Blood Of A Hybrid
by RaptureNRuin
Summary: For the first time in a long time, Gwen is feeling a little stressed out. Ben is gone, and the past two months of her life have been plagued by mercenary thugs, murderers and a troubling kidnapping situation... -Full Summary Inside- Gwen x Kevin
1. Five Years Later

**Summary: **You should know this fanfiction will diverge from canon plot in specific areas.

For the first time in a long time, Gwen is feeling a little stressed out. Ben is gone, and the past two months of her life have been plagued by mercenary thugs, murderers and a very troubling kidnapping situation on Earth, in which all the victims are hybrids. To make matters worse, fighting all the time with little to no rest has placed an enormous strain on her human body, and she's trying desperately hard not to push herself over the edge. Naturally, the first step to relieving a burden is to share it. Even though Kevin split from the team five years ago after the Aggregor incident, he's the first person that comes to mind. Whether or not he'll actually help her and return to Earth is another matter entirely.

**Pairing Focus: **Gwen x Kevin (ages 21 and 22 respectively)

**Chapter Rating: **Currently Rated T (mostly for language)

**Author Notes: **Here's to the start of a longer fic! Expect the rating to change as time elapses. If you guys turn out to like it, I'll update at least once a week. ^^ Take note, the chapters that follow after this one will be longer.

**Disclaimer: **Nope. I don't own the show and I have no intention of making any money off of this fic.

1

Five Years

She'd been holding her breath for the better part of a minute before she let it go.

"I told you, sorry Tennyson," a necrofriggian said behind her. The low hiss in his voice was very similar to that of Big Chill, one of many alien forms in Ben's omnitrix, but this necrofriggian bore solid black and white wings, not blue. His eyes were a soft shade of green, shadows flickering in his insect like gaze as he watched her. "If I were you, I'd get off this rock before Levin finds out you're here. Genix owns him now, there's nothing you can do about it. Besides. Levin almost killed you once. I promise you, he's still a bastard."

She could have listened. Should have, maybe. Five years time had separated Gwen from Kevin and the last time she saw him he wasn't himself. Confused, furious, and power hungry, he rampaged around on Earth as an insatiable monster, a barely recognized shadow of his former self. A growing obsession with settling old scores haunted him for weeks, and fueled by a lust for more power, he attacked the people closest to him. Enemies and friends alike, it didn't matter. She tried to help him. She wanted to. Everything she did was just another attempt to bring him back from what Ben considered impossible to fix.

And then he got a hold of _her._

_Kevin, you're hurting me! _

Her shoulders set as the memory resurfaced. For a moment she could almost feel a pair of heavy hands at her shoulders and the bruising power of a very strong grip. The pain was absent, just an echo of a bad memory, but the fatigue was still there. Gwen raised a hand to her shoulder, closing her eyes and turning her head as if to relieve herself of the memory and of the truth happening right in front of her. Five years, she told herself. The past was the past. The proof was right down there, with Kevin. She opened her eyes again and leaned closer to the rock cliff she was waiting behind. "I can't leave," she said. For a split second she almost smiled. It was just like before. She wanted to stay and help him. He would do the same for her. But instead of saying so, the smile vanished before she turned to face the necrofriggian, an alien who was content to call himself Motte. "Kevin knows the underground better than anyone. I can't do this on my own."

"So you'd risk working with an Osmosian, a psychotic freak like Levin, in spite of how he betrayed you before?" Disgust decorated his tone, but Gwen turned away from him.

"I appreciate you leading me here. You've helped a lot. But he's different. I'm different. People change and Kevin's a good person." She paused, ignoring a flicker of doubt that began to show itself as she looked down into the valley. Her eyes hardened briefly. A dozen different alien species were moving around down there, sliding crates into place for a smuggling operation. The facility they came from was no more than a mile walk from where she waited, looking down on them. "Even if he doesn't come with me I'd rather Kevin know. Something could happen to him. He's a hybrid too."

"Cute," Motte said, peering up at the darkened atmosphere and patches of glittering stars. "But he won't give a damn about missing kids, Tennyson. He doesn't give a shit about anybody but himself," Motte spat. "If you go down there you'll only be disappointed. Don't let that human form he's got fool you. He's just as fucked up as he was before, and this time he's perfectly capable of killing you. Probably twice as willing now that he works for Genix. You do this Tennyson, and you won't come back."

Gwen's brows furrowed as she slid her gaze over to him. Everyone was assuming lately that she couldn't do anything without getting into trouble. Agitation flared below the surface of her calm expression but she didn't round on him for the mistake. First Ben, now Motte. She sighed mentally as she realized that asking Kevin for help was in a way, proving their point. Why couldn't anybody remember that she wasn't helpless? She could take care of herself. "Just stay here and calm down. I'll be fine." 

He hissed, his breath pluming on the air in a form of white smoke. Cold air rushed over the precipice as his wings unfolded, eyes burning. He snatched her wrist as she stood up and tensed. "Listen, Tennyson. You're crazy. This is the guy your cousin wanted dead. The same guy that almost killed you. Levin practically owns these mines; the men that work here are his. This place seems calm now but those aren't ordinary criminals down there. Smugglers are just their front. The minute you go walk into that facility they'll tear you to pieces. Murderers don't play nice, Tennyson. You should go, before you're caught."

Something was wrong. She knew it before she turned to look at him again. He was not so easily flustered, nor spooked. When she found him on Earth, he was down on his luck, thin and ragged compared to most necrofriggians. Ben would have been less trusting, more suspicious, but she helped him. She could see the frustration of that truth in his eyes as he growled under his breath and turned away from her, an iridescent spark of fury lighting his gaze. What was it? Was it just Kevin that made him so angry? Motte's wings folded against his body in agitation, creating a makeshift hood and cloak as he stared off and down into the valley. Gwen felt a trickle of energy begin to pool in her fingertips, her eyes softening on him as she gently pulled out of his grasp. Maybe he thought she was like his missing daughter, and he was trying desperately hard not to lose her again.

"Motte, I'll be okay. Kevin's the only one that might be able to help us find her. You really want me to leave him behind?" The thought of leaving without warning Kevin didn't sound or feel right. All of her senses were on edge. She felt a headache coming on but it might have just been the cold atmosphere of this moon and the chill coming from the mines. There was a good possibility it was also her nerves. Her green eyes rested on the wide black and yellow compound in front of them. She could easily get across to it, it might cost a little energy, but she had some to spare. And Kevin wouldn't hurt her. He'd hear her out at least, as frustrating as he could sometimes be.

"Stubborn," Motte said, defeat lining the edges of his tone. "But fine." He picked up his head and looked at her again. "Don't waste your energy with them," he peered down into the valley where the other aliens were. "That's all I need. For you to-" he paused, "lose your human body. I'll buy you time. But hurry up." He grumbled as his wings shot open. "Go!"

Before she could stop him, he leapt from their hiding place and dipped down the cliff at a blinding pace. She hesitated only a moment before she realized what he was doing; he was freezing the cliff face. Ice splintered and grew out over the rock as Motte breathed across the surface, catching the attention of those down below. Part of her was worried for him, but Motte could handle himself and a lot of the people down there were former coworkers of his. She threw herself over the cliff side, her eyes flickering as energy pulsed through her veins and flooded her hands. After falling for less than a millisecond, her feet hit solid magenta shaded mana and she started running. The platforms were thin and not nearly as wide as they should have been, but she was trying to save as much energy as possible.

Already, she was tired.

It wouldn't have been a concern if for the last two months she hadn't been in more fights than she had ever been in when Kevin was still working on the team with her. Worse, Ben was gone. She was capable of handling things herself without him – most of the criminals on Earth were just thugs looking for trouble. But in the wake of Ben's absence, something much worse than a street thug was stalking the streets. First amongst those problems, was Genix.

Gwen suspected that the Genix Corporation had been gaining power for years. On its face it reminded her of what the Plumbers wanted so long ago: a vast majority of alien species cooperating under one name to maintain peaceful relations and prosperity. Ben left before Gwen could catch it in time and understand what was really going on. Genix was a crime spree nightmare. It sent out employees to destroy competition to its markets, it bought out poor worlds and created new laws enforced by Genix members, some of the strongest aliens she had ever seen. What Genix wanted and couldn't buy, it killed to obtain.

Then, to add to her problems, hybrid children on Earth were disappearing at an alarming rate. Friends she and Ben knew were hybrids –Plumbers even- scrambled to find out why or stop the source, but there weren't any leads. Plumbers that went in search of an answer sometimes disappeared too. Parents were at a loss and full of confusion and rage, particularly if they were parents like Motte – fighting to remain upright citizens and support a family away from home. When Motte returned to Earth, his daughter, the most precious person in the world to him, was gone. He spent every cent he had searching for her and then combed the city streets himself. When all of his options were exhausted, he turned to the Plumbers for help.

Sadly, they couldn't do anything for him.

Too many agents were already working the streets for other cases. The Plumbers promised to keep a lookout for her, but the chances of finding his daughter were slim. Like dozens of other hybrids, she was gone, and not a single person knew where to start searching for her. Gwen found him later on a rampage in the subway station, half dead from driving himself ragged, and threatening to kill hundreds of civilians if someone –anyone- didn't help him.

It was doubly important she didn't mess this up. It was easy enough to pacify Motte by giving him her support. There were very few people in the galaxy that had as impressive a reputation as she and Ben did, so when she promised to help him, he took it to heart. One of the good things that came out of the new partnership was that she found Kevin. Two months too late maybe to help break up Genix, but early enough to maybe help save a few more kids. He was the only person she could think of as someone who would know what to do. The Plumbers had no leads. Kevin had the criminal experience, he had the connections no one else had and he could fight. She needed his help.

Her gaze dropped, her breath catching briefly as she ran. That and…she missed him.


	2. Never To Last

**Chapter Rating: **Rated T (again, mostly for language)

**Author Note: **And enter Kevin. Happy reading. ^^ One more thing, thanks for the all the reviews guys! I have to say, it's awesome motivation to keep going and I love hearing from you guys. Also, Fridays are likely to become my update days in general, though life will probably get in the way at some point and throw my schedule off. Regardless, I'll update at least once a week. Hope you enjoy the chapter and thanks again for any reviews!

**Disclaimer: **Nope. I don't own the show and have no intention of making any money of this fic.

2

Never To Last

Damn it, why couldn't she find him?

The clock was ticking and the longer she spent running the maze of corridors and hallways, the easier it was to get caught. Somewhere outside, Motte was struggling with security. Alarms blared through the halls and flashed in dark corners, warning every employee in the building that an intruder was on the premises (the most obvious problem being Motte, creating a commotion outside). But Motte was right. The high technology, the organized facility and the well trained workers meant that the mines were bought and owned by Genix, and Kevin wasn't just in charge of any other smuggling operation. It didn't particularly surprise her, but it was an annoyance. She had already taken out two aliens that came rushing out of adjacent rooms at the start of the alarms. If just one more showed up –

"Hey! Who the hell are you?"

Damn it!

Gwen turned, magenta colored energy flaring around her hands, but she didn't expect a Tetramand to step out of the darkness of an open door and try to crush her with a single blow from one of his enormous four arms. Almost immediately, she poured more energy out into the air in front of her, creating a barrier between them. The alien's fist smacked into the new wall without hesitation, her focus snapped and her shield crumbled. He didn't just stop as the energy gave way. A second arm came around and snatched her up, thick fingers wrapping around her before she could react and slamming her into the ground. The air left her lungs as soon as her back hit the hard floor.

At least five curved spikes on one of his free arms sliced through the wall to the right as he swung his arm out. An adult Tetramand was too much to deal with. That wall was solid metal and he tore new strips in it as if it were made of butter. She recognized the threat for what it was but didn't give it time to linger in her mind. At any minute now, the entire facility could be overrun with the rest of the workers outside. There was no sign of Motte, so she was on her own.

"If you think I'm going easy on you because you're a-" There was a brief second where his gruff voice faltered and his yellow eyes drew wide open. He must have seen it too, an influx of energy that poured into her arms as a familiar spell worked its way up her throat. He let her go too late and went spiraling backwards down the hall to crash through the end of the corridor.

Before she could think about the exhaustion climbing up her back, she rose up to her feet and left the Tetramand where he was. Her hand dropped to the leather belt hanging around her waist. A few things had changed in five years, and now she always carried a belt with at least half a dozen holsters for whatever she needed. The first thing she fished out was her old Plumber badge. When she tried to track down Kevin years ago, even two _months_ ago, it could never pick up on his signal. A number of things could have interfered or prevented her from finding him. He could have thrown it out, broken it, sold it, anything. It was the only reason she hadn't tried again before now, because the failure of the last time still weighed heavily on her mind.

She didn't want to be disappointed.

"Come on, Kevin." She turned a corner, brushing her hair out of her eyes as it fell over her shoulders, programming in the familiar ID number of his badge and hoping that he would still have it with him. There was something at the back of her mind that thought it was amusing that she actually remembered his ID number, but she had to save it for another time. Temporarily, she waited, hoping for her badge to react, holding her breath. As the seconds ran on and nothing happened, her heart fell. How could he throw away his badge?

Gwen closed her eyes, a renewed weakness settling in her limbs. She couldn't understand it. Why wouldn't he keep that badge? Sure, he had stubbornness issues and a bit of a temper sometimes but it didn't seem right that he would lose his badge. No matter how determined he was to lose himself out here and go back to his former life of smuggling weapons and making his own money, Kevin should have kept that thing. Wasn't it the one that used to belong to his father? She brought a hand up to her hair, agitated with him. That badge meant something to him when he got it. It was important. And he callously tossed it out like some –

"When I get a hold of you the wall won't be the only thing that's in pieces, woman! I don't care how valuable you are! If I get my hands on you," the Tetramand said, rubble collapsing to the floor as he pulled himself up, covered in dust and debris. "I'll kill you! You hear me?"

The whole facility could hear him at this rate. She needed to move, fast. Gwen rolled her eyes to a few more heinous comments thrown her way. Fighting him off would take too much energy out of her. For the past few weeks, she felt as if her life was one joke of a fight. After attempting to take down a few Genix operations, the corporation thought it would be funny to send hired thugs after her on a daily basis. When they worked together, Ben and Kevin did most of the fighting. These days, she was expending so much mana that she was placing an enormous strain on her body. So much energy, in fact, that she was beginning to come dangerously close to losing her humanity. Gwen needed to lose him. Either that or come up with a way to beat him without anything at all, which would probably cost her too much time. Time was definitely something she didn't have much of. As she turned to run, the decision made, a flash of green light from below caught her attention.

Kevin's badge was nearby.

Relief came first, and then panic as the Tetramand stomped around the corner, slamming one of his fists into the wall behind her. An inch closer and he would have hit her and he barely missed her when he reached out and tried to grab her a second later. Out of options, she allowed as much energy as she dared to use and fired a few beams in his direction before taking off down the hall. If there was one advantage she had, it was speed and agility. The darkness of the halls helped to lose him too, and the further she progressed, the emptier the facility became. At one point she came to a stop and the corridor was pitch black. The lights were out, but a nearby alarm was still going, and the red light at the top blinked on and off in silence.

The Tetramand was nowhere to be found. She must have lost him a while back, and since there were quite a few hallways where she had to pick which way to turn, she doubted he would catch up to her. Instead, her attention went straight to her badge while she caught her breath. The flashes of green emanating from the mechanism in her hands were erratic, almost inseparable. The message was obvious: she was close. Really close, in fact, without even meaning to be.

If Kevin didn't have his badge, what could she do? Her eyes narrowed on it as she scanned the darkness in front of her. Casting light on everything would be a simple task, but a dangerous ache had started to build in her chest – a final warning that she was cutting it close. Anymore wasted energy might take everything she had. Part of her wondered if a human body was even worth it anymore. The trouble Earth was in right now demanded she step up and do something, but once she lost her human body, she couldn't get another one. It was selfish and stupid. Plenty of fully realized Anodites could just make a human form again after losing the first one, but it would never be the same. She wasn't sure if she could do it.

The lack of a body was one thing. It bothered her immensely, almost terrified her. But 75 years away from the people she knew and loved, all for training on a planet she didn't know a thing about?

She just….couldn't do it.

Gwen glanced down at her badge again for reassurance. The green kept flashing and helped to light the corridor, though she moved slower, pausing to keep an eye out for anything that could jump out of the shadows. It definitely seemed like it would happen, particularly because without a good source of light, every corner was a little darker than the last. There was no one around, but how many times in her life was silence a good indicator of a safe environment? Finally, she stopped, drawn to a single room at the end of the hall. The green light on her badge was constant now, no longer blinking. This was it?

She looked up at the door for some sign of where she was. Nothing. Motte might have known. The only reason she knew Kevin was here at all was because of him. Before Motte left to visit his daughter and before he found out she was missing, he worked for Kevin. He knew these halls and this facility. Maybe he could have led her straight to Kevin, but Motte wanted to avoid him at all costs. Her luck had been on the rise, if only briefly, since meeting him, and now it was crashing again. At any second she half expected some mercenary thug to come traipsing in from down the hall to get her. Genix put a bounty on her head almost two months ago, thinking that without Ben around, she was going to be easy to catch.

The goons were annoying, but she tolerated them. Fighting in groups or hunting her alone, she managed to down dozens of them in Ben's absence, but the stress of the situation piled up faster than she could manage it. It was a good strategy – run her ragged until she could barely sleep without wondering if someone waited outside the door to take her back to Genix in a body bag. And at the same time, Genix continued to send well trained thugs after her, hoping she caved under the pressure. She barely had time to think anymore. If it weren't so serious, she might actually be impressed.

Genix was the first real opponent in five years which spent all its time calculating its next move. They rarely made mistakes.

But for the moment, she was aggravated. Upset with Ben for leaving and upset with him for what happened five years ago. Kevin was also in the dog house because he was _also_ an idiot. None of them were on her good side, but she needed the latter to help her and the likelihood that he would was slipping by the second.

Gwen sighed, placing a hand against the cold surface of the door and pushing it open. She winced as green light flooded her vision, so bright it hurt her eyes. His badge. She raised a hand to shield herself from it, barely able to see into the dark. "Kevin?" Her voice flowed through the room – she figured it to be a storage area, she saw the outlines of crates around her fingers- but no answer came. "Of course," she muttered, waiting another minute to allow her eyes to adjust before she found the source. Kevin's badge was lit up like a beacon and resting between two crates at the back of the room on the floor. Gwen had to shove a few items out of the way to get to it, but the brightness finally dimmed when she picked it up and had it in hand.

The sight of it wasn't exactly reassuring.

She smoothed her thumb over a layer of dust collected on the surface, trying to determine how long it had been since it had last been put to use. At least Kevin hadn't tossed it out with the trash, but it didn't help that he didn't have it with him either. She closed her eyes, touching a few fingers to her forehead in an attempt to pacify an oncoming headache. _Damn it, Kevin!_ She felt miserable, too tired to really feel depressed, but angry enough to feel energy course its way through her body again. She wasn't like Kevin and Ben, who could take their anger out on things without a bit of hesitation. But she wanted to.

"What a sup-"

A shout went up as she impulsively turned and let off a beam of energy in the direction of the noise. She instantly regretted it, was shocked it happened at all. Her control was always infamous, and she never jumped the gun like that before. It didn't help that her entire field of vision flooded with white, searing light and when she could see again, she realized she was on the ground, struggling to breathe. Just pulling herself up into a sitting position hurt, and trying to stand was so difficult that in the end she had to kneel instead. The strain on her body was getting worse.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and before she could think to stop it, more mana fumed in her hands. She watched herself fire off another shot at a blur of heavy movement in the dark, both flustered and terrified. It almost felt as if she was losing control over her own body, and she just about let it happen too, right up until a powerful weight slammed into her and she hit the floor again.

Gwen drew in a sharp breath, pain rippling through her body. The blow was enough to knock the air out of her, and it hurt too, but the rolling aches all throughout – those were her own fault. There was so much of it going on that when she tried to get up, she immediately had to stop and let her vision adjust again, dizziness sweeping through her mind as she closed her eyes. The next time she opened them she was aware that part of the reason she couldn't get up was because she was being held down. At first, she couldn't make out anything. Her badge slipped out of her pocket, and she dropped Kevin's, but the light coming from the two of them had dimmed enough that they barely made a difference.

At best she could make out shadows, and when she finally gave herself another second of silence to sort out what was in front of her, she realized she already knew. Her eyes widened briefly. "Kevin?"

Some things had changed in five years.

The last time she saw him, he was caught between half a dozen alien forms and barely recognizable. She always knew it was possible to bring him back from the monstrosity Ben claimed he was, and the relief she felt that he had somehow found a way to fix it and bring himself back from that was overwhelming. Time of course, had changed a few things. His hair was longer; maybe an inch or two more than she remembered, but his eyes were still the ever familiar, intense color of coal. His features seemed to be more defined by the ample light of the room, but he was still Kevin, if just a little fitter than she could remember. Now that her eyes had adjusted, she could see more of him than before. Even his outfit was reminiscent of his time on the team: dark blue jeans and a gray, long sleeved shirt below a black one. He looked good, and he looked like himself.

There was a second where she wanted to reach forward and confirm what she was seeing, but when she tried to raise her hand from the floor, Kevin's grip tightened over her wrist and she remembered: he had her pinned. She realized half heartedly that it almost felt as if he were somehow stronger than she remembered. A kind of maturity had been in his eyes a moment ago, but now she recognized a familiar arrogance rise in its place.

The vision she had of him as the same person faltered, but only as she watched his brows furrow. "I hoped it wasn't you," he said, unaware that hearing his voice again and actually _recognizing_ it helped her to relax. "Then I found out from one of the guys that they were sure an Anodite was running around the place. You're the only one I know that would come all the way out here."

As touching as it was to see him again, she cleared the haze from her head and noticed a few things.

One. Having a conversation with him would be a lot easier if he wasn't looming over her. Gwen could feel her heart trip in her chest, remembering: he was stronger, fitter than she remembered. As tempted as she was to acknowledge the small changes, she would have to save something like that for another time. She ignored a bit of light heat that rushed to her face, glad that he probably couldn't see it in this light. It was rare when she was flustered, so that was irritating, and it didn't help that she was both tired and frustrated. It also occurred to her that he had been in the room the entire time. Watching her. "Kevin. Off."

"Nice to see you too, Gwen." He grinned, eyes flashing, but he didn't move. Yet again, she found herself conflicted. The look was a flattering one and she hesitated under that wolfish smirk, but _logically_, she should be trying to shove him off. Kevin didn't seem to be bothered by the lapse in judgment. At least not until she glared up at him. He tensed immediately, his grin fading slowly before he growled under his breath. Everything he said was slow and purposeful, as if he were thinking of every word, very, very, carefully. "You just shot at me. What makes you think I should let you up at all?"

"Because I need to talk to you and I want you off."

"Yeah, and I'm sure Tennyson is out there somewhere waiting to get his ass beat when he tries to come in here and kill me after we _talk_." His jaw set and he glanced away. Gwen almost left it at that, she was shocked by the seething anger pulsing through his grip. But when he looked back down at her it was worse. That anger fumed in his expression and he was looking right at _her_. He blamed her for what Ben did, maybe even thought she planned it. It hurt. She felt her breath catch from the surprise of it. "I didn't forget, Gwen," he said, bitter.

How could he think that? Why would he blame her for what Ben tried to do? She had never seen him look at her like that and the enormous amount of pain it caused was unbearable. "How could you…" her voice slipped into a whisper before she swallowed the rest and regained a bit of strength, using some of her frustration to fuel it.

"I tried to help you, Kevin. I didn't think Ben would-"

"Right," he said, his grin returning, though the smirk was cold. "You just happened to show up, wanting to help me out and Tennyson just happened to be waiting outside because he was just that clever. You had nothing to do with it." He snorted, his grip loosening again. "You're lucky that he did," he muttered. "I would have killed you."

Her eyes narrowed. "First of all, no, you wouldn't have. Second, Ben isn't here. Third, you're not thinking, Kevin." It really did hurt. She closed her eyes, pushing back a lot of mixed emotions about that look on his face. Well, if there was any doubt that they were ever even possible as a couple once, it was much, much more difficult to see them together now. "I had nothing to do with Ben being there and you know it." There were other things she wanted to say. Some of them might have helped, others would have probably made things worse. She went with one of the few that were fairly neutral. "And if you don't get off of me I _swear _I -"

"Let me get this straight," he cut in, trying to hide the animosity in his tone and failing. "You're the one who breaks in here, takes out a few people and leaves the rest to bother with that idiot outside. You want to talk to me but the minute I try to talk to you, you almost kill me. Look at that, Gwen!" He took a moment to point over in the darkness, and for the first time she noticed the full extent of what had happened.

At the time she didn't honestly think she used that much energy. Sure, she lost a bit of control in the process and her reactions where purely instinctive, but she was genuinely horrified now. Somewhere in between staring at her own work and hearing Kevin go on, she felt him lift away and she sat up, shaking her head. There was an enormous hole in the wall where she had fired off a burst of energy in the dark. Globs of dark metal were oozing onto the floor from where the heat lingered and ate through the wall. A good portion of the rim was a blinding white color, and as she stared at it, she could swear she heard it burning. The Tetramand from earlier could have easily walked right through it.

"I've never seen you do that," Kevin said, his voice dragging her back to the present. He was kneeling down beside her, his eyes locked on the wall. She watched his gaze flicker and followed it, only to find a perfect clone of the first hole in another spot, only this time, a few crates had been in the way and shattered upon impact with her energy. The wood splinters were everywhere, even embedded in the soft metal that was melting down the wall. "Where'd you learn that?"

He didn't exactly sound enthused. In fact, their argument died instantly as she realized she had nothing to say, and he didn't seem keen on prying very long for an explanation. No wonder it hurt as badly as it did during those first five or so minutes after he knocked her down.

"You going to tell me what's wrong or are we just not going to talk about it?"

Wow. That was a surprise. He actually said something that sounded like he cared. Gwen hesitated, reaching out for a nearby crate and using it as a way to haul herself to her feet. It wasn't the smartest move in the world, especially because the room started spinning again when she stood. She had to close her eyes and consider the situation carefully, and when she opened them again, Kevin was up too, leaning back against a few boxes, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Hard to believe that just a second ago he'd actually been concerned and perceptive enough to realize something was wrong. She shook it off though.

"I've been looking for you for a while now," she started, glad that he didn't interrupt again and just kept glowering at the wall. She really didn't want to talk about what happened. She didn't even know she could _do _that without really trying to do it. "Maybe you remember a guy named Motte. He said he used to work for you and when I found him he agreed to bring me here. So if there's any way that you can temporarily call off those guys outside, that would help."

Kevin shrugged, the smallest traces of a smirk playing across his face. "He's probably already caught. They won't kill him unless I say so, so don't worry about him. Just get to the point, Gwen, what do you really want?"

She paused at the aggression hidden in his tone. "How could you even work for these people? I know you used to do things like this all the time, but Genix? You always worked on your own and it was never as bad as what you're doing here. These people are dangerous. Every time I try to shut them down they crop back up stronger than before, and they kill innocent people. Whatever they want, they take. Whatever they can't, they remove from existence."

"Piss them off enough," Kevin said, his eyes sliding over to her, "and they'll kill you too."

_Thanks, Kevin. _Gwen stared at him, expecting more than that. She could tell he was in a bit of a bad mood, probably because she was here. Another wonderful little detail she skipped thinking about. "I know that. But that doesn't mean I'm quitting." Her voice dropped in tone, aggravated. "Nobody else is around to even think about standing up to them. Ben's gone and I can't reach him."

"Big surprise. He's as useful as he ever was."

She sighed, trying really hard not to get angry. This happened with Ben too. How could five years have passed with the two of them still emotionally immature enough to talk about each other in a nice way? Though, Kevin had more of a reason to be upset. Ben's idea of killing him didn't sit well with her either. But both of them were being unreasonable, and she expected a little better of Kevin. "He went to try and keep two planets from blowing each other up on the other side of the galaxy. That stupid war going on over there is threatening to expand and involve at least another three planets. Before it can, Ben left. I haven't seen or talked to him in two months."

He also left as an attempt to draw attention away from her, but that was working _so well_ she didn't think to bring it up at all.

"If you want me to help you take down Genix, I'm not going to do it." Kevin pushed off of the boxes he was leaning on and crossed the room, kneeling down to pick up her badge. "I came out here for a reason, Gwen. Do you want to know how long it took me to get back into this business? This is the only thing I know how to do well, and after working with you and Ben I ruined that."

She was glaring at him again. "Sorry it made it so difficult for you to go back to a life of crime."

He turned and met her gaze, brows furrowing. "No, you're not. You don't get it." He tossed her the badge and stood again, leaving his on the floor. "You're a Tennyson. You and Ben are set for life. When I left I had nothing to fall back on. Nothing," he added when she wanted to say something, his tone biting. "I helped you guys out and when I finally left, it was almost impossible for me to do anything. This, this right here, is all I know how to do. I'm not good at anything else Gwen, and after pretending to be a Plumber and play hero with you and Ben, it was impossible to come back to it and be trusted by everybody else. They don't see another criminal when they look at me, you know that? They see a traitor. Even if I could smuggle anything to Earth, I had no buyers. Nothing good ever came out of working with you and Ben. I had only one thing I could do really well without you guys around and that somehow managed to get fucked up too."

Gwen kept quiet for a few seconds, concerned. As she watched him, he tore his gaze away and turned his back on her. "That's not true, Kevin. You're good at a lot of things. You could have done-"

"Don't," he snapped. His gaze hardened, almost unreadable as he looked over his shoulder at her. "I meant what I said. I'm not going to help you take down Genix. I finally get a job out here and I'm not throwing it away. Get it through your head, Gwen. I'm not a hero."

"Then maybe you can help me with something else," she said, exasperated. She could feel him slipping away from her and she didn't want that to happen. As angry, exhausted and miserable as she was at how the conversation was going, she had five years weighing on her mind. Five years spent worrying about him and his safety. Some part of her was bitter, but now that she was starting to lose him again, the bitterness settled into a type of desperation. She didn't want to let him go again. "Ben can't help me with this because he isn't here. And I can't do this on my own." She waited for those words to impact, but he never said anything so she continued.

"Hybrid children are being kidnapped. I've looked into the situation on other planets and space stations, but it's not nearly as bad as it is on Earth, and I guess that's mostly due to the fact that the Plumbers aren't as strong in numbers as they used to be." She paused, lowering her gaze. "I've tried everything, Kevin. Some of our friends are running themselves into the ground trying to figure out why this is happening. I've even tried to save some kids ahead of time. But moving them to a safe house hasn't helped."

In fact that was a big mistake and a very painful memory. As soon as she mentioned it, she pushed it back before it could affect her.

"Every time I try to think ahead and keep it from happening, it happens anyway. My plans haven't been working and I need help. It's not the - " She hadn't intended on the pause, and Kevin turned to look at her as she trailed off, but she was staring through the enormous hole in the wall. It only now occurred to her that there was a clear path straight through the facility. She hadn't just blasted through one wall, but many, and at the end of the path was a familiar face: the Tetramand from earlier.

At first he didn't notice her. He was staring at the enormous hole in the wall in front of him and leering down at the rubble. He even picked up a chunk of it to examine it, scratching at his lower jaw with another hand. Then he lifted his gaze and their eyes met. She stiffened instantly.

"You!" As soon as he said it, he crushed the rubble and all four of his hands clenched tightly. "You're breaking everything! Who do you think has to pay for all of this, huh?" He walked through at least two rooms and paused, blinking as he stepped in a pile of metal slop on the floor. She followed his gaze as it moved off to the side and noticed a few items that she missed before. Just equipment really, but a lot of it looked like – "The weight room? The _weight room_?" He roared, jerking his attention back to her. "Of all the things you had to wreck, it had to be the weight room? Why?" He genuinely sounded confused, maybe upset. "There was good stuff in here! I loved this room! Why would you do this?"

Her brow rose slowly, but before she could say anything, his jaw tightened and he stormed towards her. "So help me I'm going to tear you limb from limb! I don't care if you're -"

He might have continued on, but Kevin stepped in the way and his entire demeanor switched on a dime, almost as if he were crestfallen. "B-boss. I uh…the intruder and the…" Gwen couldn't see the look on Kevin's face, but if she had to guess, she'd say that he wasn't exactly happy. The Tetramand shifted uncomfortably, looking between them both. It might have been hilarious if she didn't know what Kevin was capable of in a fight. Here was this enormous alien with enough muscle power to fling a full grown man across the room with little more than the flick of a finger, and the minute he came across Kevin he froze and became something similar to a kicked puppy.

It might have been interesting to let them continue, but the door swung open behind them, drawing all eyes to the front.


	3. Freak of Nature

**Chapter Rating: **T for Language (still lol )

**Author Note: **Here's Chapter 3. As I work on them I think they're just going to end up being longer and longer, even if I try to keep them at the same amount. Hope you enjoy and thank you guys for the reviews! For anybody that reads, don't forget to leave a review when you're done. I'd love to hear from you guys, the last few days have been pretty crappy for me, and hearing from you would make my day. Happy reading!

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own the show and have no intention of making money off this fic.

3

Freak of Nature

"Told you I heard Bronx," one alien said, shoving his way through the door. "And look, I found the boss." He was tall and lean, a species Gwen hadn't seen before, with aqua tinted skin, half a dozen black eyes and very long, tendril like fingers that were wrapped around a familiar figure: Motte. The alien had to duck into the room to get in, and even then he was almost eight or nine feet in length, with long scrawny limbs and a wide set face. The body shape was humanoid, but blotches of darker blue color swirled below the transparent surface of his skin, reminding her in some ways, of a jelly fish. "Hello, boss."

Another alien stayed outside, likely to block the exit, but the first alien dropped his gaze down to Gwen. All six of his eyes blinked as he tilted his head. He had no mouth to speak of, which made it difficult to determine how he could talk at all, but his eyes were certainly expressive enough to show a bit of amusement as he reached out for her. Once again she felt energy pulse through her body without permission, but Kevin grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backwards, scowling, preventing the mana from manifesting. A shiver climbed up her back, not from the contact, but from how close she came to losing control again.

"Heh, guess you've got it under control," the alien said, his long fingers curling into a ball as his arm fell at his side. He lifted Motte up in his other hand. The necrofriggian was small in comparison. "Finally caught this guy though. Was wondering what to do with him, boss. We've already had a talk, haven't we Motte?"

The necrofriggian gasped as the alien's grip over him tightened, a few sparks of electricity dancing along the long coils of his fingers before he opened his hand and dropped Motte to the floor. Gwen rushed around Kevin, ignoring the other alien as she knelt down to help him to his feet. His wings weren't looking good. They were folded irregularly, as if someone decided to crumple them together like paper, and he grumbled under his breath as she helped him up.

"I told you we should've left," Motte whispered.

"So boss, who is this lovely creature?" The smooth voice of the alien behind them made her uneasy, but he prodded Gwen and the minute he touched her, she whirled on him, eyes aglow.

"Don't," Motte said, grabbing her shoulder with an ice cold grip, desperate.

The alien drew away, his eyes pulling back into thin, amused slits. It looked almost like a smile, right across his face. A predatory smile. "If looks could _kill_," he said, touching his long fingers to his slim chest as if offended by her. "She's an angry little Anodite, isn't she? I like her."

"Get. Out."

The alien tensed, looking down as Kevin moved in front of her, the coarse quality in his tone demanding everyone's attention. Gwen even saw the alien outside the door straighten up, like a soldier picked out by a commanding officer on the field. But the alien in front of them didn't budge. All of his eyes drew open as he tilted his head to the side, considering. Gwen was trying to forget that he had just touched her. Something about him didn't sit right, and the longer he was in the room, the worse she started to feel about him. Motte's grip on her shoulder grew taut and wary, as if he could sense the same things. There was some small effort the necrofriggian made to pull her away from the front of the room, but the attempt was feeble due to his condition.

"Very well, boss." The alien blinked a few more times, drawing back and curling his fingers up towards his face, mulling the decision over. "I should mention though, before I go, that I recognize our little Anodite. Genix has placed a lovely bounty on her head."

Gwen felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle, but the alien turned to leave, ducking out the doorway in the serpentine way that he came in. Gwen had already pinned down some of his abilities, and watching him duck and slide out the door told her he belonged to an extremely malleable species. He bent over again when he was in the hallway, his eyes drifting to find her, even thought he wasn't talking to her. It was disturbing. "I'm glad I had a chance to see you again, Motte. I hope you learned a valuable lesson today. We mustn't pick fights unless we can finish them."

"But boss!" The Tetramand, Bronx, at the other end of the room held out his arms, disconcerted. "You can't expect us to just-"

"I can handle myself, now get out," Kevin snapped, not even turning to look at him. He kept his eyes trained on the other alien, but Bronx stepped out the same way he came in, through the wall, conflicted but obedient. The other two aliens slunk away too, but Gwen suspected they were close by, even when Kevin walked over and slammed the door shut. Not so much for privacy, not with enormous holes in the wall, but Gwen recognized it was more or less to make a statement to his subordinates outside.

Slouching over her shoulder, Motte hissed out a grim sigh, his green eyes flashing. Gwen shuddered at the cold air that poured from between his teeth as he did so, but she carefully helped him to the corner, where he wanted to sit on top of a smaller crate. He was eyeing the holes in the wall with a kind of admiration until Kevin walked over. Motte's glare hardened.

"We have to go, Tennyson. If we stay any longer we're done for. It's only a matter of time before the rest of Genix finds out you're here, if they haven't already," he added, looking at Kevin.

"Chill," Kevin bit out, causing Gwen to sigh. Now she had to deal with two people who were in a bad mood and in the same room together. The fact that Kevin used to be Motte's boss compounded the problem. She stood up slowly, slightly astonished to feel a similar, rolling ache pass through her shoulders and into her arms. She couldn't let herself use any more energy. She hadn't even done anything a moment ago, but the threat of summoning it up actually left a lingering physical pain. "If I tell them to back off, they do it," Kevin said. "You'll be fine as long as you don't piss me off," he continued, crossing his arms over his chest. He was doing that a lot.

"My hero. Why don't you be more honest, Levin, and tell Gwen why you had to step in back there. Tell her what Loch would have done if he'd been given the chance." He clenched his hands into fists. "He likes energy beings, doesn't he?"

"I think a few weeks away from here made you forget who's in charge," Kevin said, his voice dripping with contempt as he stepped forward. Motte stood up to meet him as he came, and Gwen stepped between them before they could start fighting.

"Would both of you stop for just a minute? We can't afford to waste time with this. If it's as bad as you say Motte, and we need to go, then you have to calm down. I wasn't done explaining things to-"

"I'm not going, Gwen."

She froze, closing her eyes in an attempt to clear his words from her mind. He didn't just say that. "Kevin. Please. You've got to listen to me. There are so many kids that have gone missing. I can't figure out what's going on, and I need somebody to help me. You're the first person I thought of. Ben's not going to be anywhere near home." Now she was falling back into that minor desperation she felt earlier. Only, this was worse. She couldn't bring herself to look at him for fear of what she may or may not see.

Motte stalked away from them both with a shake of his head, perhaps in an attempt to give them some privacy, though she could hear him pacing in the background, furious. Some part of her felt betrayed too, but she wasn't about to show it. "Why would you stay here?" She meant for the question to sound stronger, but when she asked it, it came out as barely more than a whisper. Something clattered to the floor behind them, but it was only Motte, plucking Kevin's badge from the ground and accidentally dropping it. He cursed lightly –probably thought it was Gwen's – and grabbed it again, this time cradling it much more carefully.

Kevin didn't even notice. "Gwen, you shouldn't have come here."

Not again. Damn it all, not this again. Her headache returned as she looked up at him and saw the harsh indifference on his face. His dark eyes were unreadable. "It's a sad story. I'll give you that much," he said flatly, "but it's got nothing to do with me. I'm not a hero anymore Gwen, hell, I never was."

"You kept your badge," she began, but he cut her off.

"I threw it in here with the rest of the junk we don't need anymore! When I found out some of the guys had encountered an Anodite in the building, it was damn obvious who it was. I came in here because I knew you'd probably go looking for that badge and you walked right in, just like I thought you would." He glanced away, shaking his head. "I'm done with it, Gwen. I'm not cut out for it."

"That's not true. Why do you keep saying things like that? You were amazing when you worked with us. You were a good person, you did everything right. You even saved us when we couldn't beat-"

"Gwen." His voice dropped back into that dark tone he reserved for his workers. He didn't need to say anything else, what he wanted to get across was etched into his face, maybe permanently. It was just unsettling to see it.

He was being serious. He wasn't coming with her.

The thin thread that might have connected them once was gone, and the truth hit her particularly hard. Almost as bad as what overexertion had done to her body. Maybe she said something wrong along the way, maybe she did something to make him feel as if he had to stay behind. But what? Hell, could an apology even fix it?

_It's not my fault_.

Gwen dropped her gaze, unable to keep looking at him as she acknowledged this. It was true. She hadn't done anything wrong. But this was his decision. He picked a side, and it hadn't been hers. "I…" She took a deep breath, reigning in her thoughts carefully before she looked back up at him. "I just wanted to ask. But if that's your decision, fine. You know how to contact me if you get any ideas on how to help, but I won't tell Ben you're here. Whether or not he finds out on his own though, I can't help that." She shook her head, resisting the urge to walk out. It was probably the last time she would get to see him, and as much as she _hated _his answer, she couldn't forgive herself if she ruined this moment. Even if he chose the wrong side and spent the rest of his life here, she didn't think leaving on a bad note was a good idea. It would weigh too much on her mind if she did.

Had it really been too much to hope for, though? It bothered her, but if he wanted to stay, she wasn't going to hold it against him.

In spite of all the warring emotions and thoughts going on in her head, there was one that managed to slip out. "I'm glad you brought yourself back from what you were before. I was worried."

There was a second where she didn't move, and then one very fast moment where she decided to hug him. He let out a soft grunt when she jumped up to wrap her arms around his neck. He was too shocked to return the gesture in time, and just like that, she fell away from him and back to the ground, smiling. "Just do us both a favor and stay out of trouble." She felt at odds, turning to look at Motte, who was watching her with mild intrigue, Kevin's badge still in his hand. "Time to go."

He nodded. "Good. I'll be right out."

Strangely, that didn't bother her. She opened the door and stepped out into the hall, hesitating just long enough to remember where she was and how to get back to the entrance.

* * *

… Shit.

She was the only damn person Kevin knew that did this. Each time he pushed her away she came back. Who in their right mind would have hugged him like that after he said what he said and behaved the way he did? Damn it all to hell, he was trying to keep her away from him and she still treated him as if he hadn't done anything wrong. And that hug. He growled under his breath as the door clicked shut behind her, grinding his teeth in frustration. It was as if the last five years hadn't happened, that's what that hug was.

"You're an idiot."

And she left Motte behind. Or maybe he was just too stupid to follow after her. Either way, the hiss of the necrofriggian's voice grated on his nerves. "If you still want to walk out of here intact, I suggest you go with Gwen." As he said it, he remembered the brief moment of familiarity and warmth that swept over him when she threw her arms around his neck. She was 21 now, and not a damn thing had changed about her. Well, a few things had. He couldn't help but to notice how tired she was. Five years grabbed hold of her too, but she was still the only person in the world he could be a jerk to and she would act that way. _Damn it, Gwen._

"I've always wanted to say that," Motte said, breathing out a low laugh and tossing Kevin's badge up into the air, only to catch it and repeat the motion. "I just didn't think I'd ever really get the opportunity. To think you used to be something worthwhile." He paused, the amusement gone. "I've made so many mistakes. I know what it's like to start at the bottom and claw your way up an impossible hill, never getting to the god damn top of it." His fingers clenched over Kevin's badge before he threw it at the wall with a snarl. "Now my only daughter is missing. Gwendolyn Tennyson, the one person in the world who could possibly help me, promises to do the best she can to find her. But she needs help and she goes to the one person in this giant cesspool of a galaxy who I know for a fact is just as fucked up as I am, maybe worse."

"Cute," Kevin growled. He chose to ignore him for the sake of his own temper. His mind kept drifting back to that hug and that pathetic smile on her face. Why couldn't she act like a normal person and yell at him for choosing to do something stupid?

"I told her from the start what your answer would be." The air grew remarkably colder as Motte continued to speak, but Kevin barely noticed the changes. He didn't even care. A lot of hostility started to boil in his blood, and it took a lot of control not to turn around and force Motte to shut his mouth. "But she still wanted to come out here and ask. It was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. And just now, she still bought into that crap and thought you would come back and help her. You've messed Tennyson up, you know that? She's never going to be able to get over this. What's sad is it's her fault too. She's so naïve." He shook his head. Kevin balled his hand into a fist, waiting for him to finish. "But I admire…" he trailed off, looking away. "I admire her willingness to try. I wish I had someone who could still believe in me like that. Just to be offered a second chance at what you used to have."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Kevin said, facing him, reaching out to touch the wall. He absorbed the essence of the grey blue, metallic surface into his skin, digging his fingers so deep into his palm as he did so that they started to screech as metal clashed into metal. "If you open your mouth one more time about her, you'll regret it."

"What does it matter to you anymore, Levin? I've given up everything to bring her here. She promised to help me and she hoped you would help her. I had no options when she found me, and now." He laughed, his shoulders shaking. "Threaten me all you like but you know I'm telling the truth. I would kill for someone like her! I don't care about a relationship, but just to have someone that thought I could _be _something better." He dropped his gaze. "How could you even think of-"

One too many words. That was always Motte's problem. He never learned to quit while he was ahead, and before he could finish the rest of his sentence, Kevin slammed into him. The force knocked the necrofriggian back into a few crates, causing them to splinter and crack as they fell over to the floor, their contents spilling across the ground. Without missing a beat, he grabbed Motte up by his neck and threw him up against the wall. He gave him two seconds to realize what was happening and then pitched him back against it a second time, aware that it would probably make his current injuries worse.

"Then you better take good care of her, you hear me!" It wasn't a question. "I _can't_ take care of her. The last time I was _near_ her, I almost killed her!" He jerked him away from the wall and hurled him towards another stack of junk in the corner. Motte strived to get to his feet in time after he smacked into the wall, but Kevin was across the room again in a second and hauling him back up. "Since you think you could kill somebody for her, you better make damn sure that nothing happens to her." He let his words bleed into a dangerous tone, his brows furrowing. "Because if anything happens to her. If she gets hurt." He brought Motte closer to him, ignoring how his grip was making it difficult for Motte to breathe. "I'll kill you. You're damn right when you say you're just as fucked up as I am. I know what a rat you can be."

Finally, he let him drop to the floor, but he didn't move. Motte spent a few seconds sputtering for air, his ruined wings struggling to unfold as if he planned to escape. "You can tell Ben where I am for all I care. Tell every damn person in the universe if you want. But if you so much as think about letting anything happen to Gwen, I'll come after you. Hide, if it makes you happy, but it won't. Work." He growled, squaring his shoulders. "You should think about that while you're leaving, and make damn sure she gets home safe." He left him there before he could really lose his temper and do something irreversible. Motte couldn't protect her if he was dead.

The only thing he picked up before he left was his badge. A dying emerald light flickered in the center.

* * *

The journey back to the ship was slower than it had been coming out to the facility. But none of the aliens bothered to chase them. Apparently, Kevin didn't give them permission to do so, and they just sort of eyed her warily as she left, resuming their work in silence. It made the journey easy, but awkward. Bronx, the Tetramand from earlier, was outside, near the bottom of the cliff where their ship was parked, all four of his arms crossed over his chest until he heard her coming and leered over in her direction.

Motte trudged onward behind her, glaring at the ground, stopping only when she stopped. She had no idea what he talked to Kevin about, but she suspected it was probably a last ditch attempt to get him to help. He refused to talk about it, begrudgingly shoving past her every time it was brought up, and sticking annoyingly close by. The closest she ever got to an answer was, "I'm an idiot." It explained nothing.

Once again, she pulled her attention away from him. Bronx didn't look too happy to see them, but she didn't think he was looking for a fight. Motte barely noticed him at all, just kept mumbling incoherent phrases under his breath.

"I could go up there and destroy that hunk of metal you call a ship," Bronx began, his voice gruff. "But I have to make sure you get on that damn thing and you don't come back instead. At least, I guess that's what the boss wants." He shrugged and let his arms fall to his side, obviously huffy about this development but not willing to question it.

Gwen was beginning to understand the mentality around here: do what you were told, never ask any questions. The lull of a chain of command seemed like a benefit to her right now. She could feel hundreds of problematic thoughts fighting at the back of her mind for her attention, but she wasn't sure of which to focus on first. The first hundred or so of those thoughts were probably related to Kevin, and their emotional strength would backfire on her if she dared to consider them. She just wanted somebody around who could tell her what to do next, and that way, she wouldn't be responsible for the consequences of her actions if it turned out to be a stupid decision.

Funny that she wanted to gain control by losing it.

"Alright. Just sit tight and don't move." Gwen allowed a fraction of mana to channel through her body, even though a small voice at the back of her mind whispered a warning. She created a platform under them, and took the three of them to the top of the cliff face, a little impressed with the fact that she was indifferent to the wasted energy. By the time they got to the top, her fingers seared with pain, as if she had dipped them into a vat of acid, but as they stepped off the platform and onto solid ground, she let the magic ebb away and the sensation slowed to a trickle.

Bronx immediately walked over to the ship and stood below its nose like a faithful guard dog, and Motte slunk past her, his voice so soft she barely heard it. "We have to go. Now."

Right. But for a second she looked down at her fingers, noting the red tint to each them. It was probably a very bad idea to waste any more mana on anything else, but she raised a brow, discerning that she really didn't care. For the first time, she didn't care about anything. She stood there for a second, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. This was selfish. What Kevin said was selfish too, but what she was _doing _was stupid. Other people were counting on her for help, including Motte, who was probably trying not to break down and lose his temper again like he did back on Earth. This was her best plan, and now it was shot to hell. But it didn't give her the right to throw everything away and just give up.

It would have been nice if Kevin decided to go along, but the truth was that he didn't.

"Hey. Don't you have somewhere to be?" Bronx snapped, his impatience catching her off guard. He paused though, the contempt on his face thinning when she met his gaze. But she wasn't angry.

"Levin's not worth the effort of damn tears," Motte hissed before he boarded the ship.

Wonderful. No, it didn't feel great to leave Kevin behind, but she desperately wanted to believe that for a second she'd been crying due to an enormous amount of stress and not because of his choice. It took all of two seconds to clear the tears away, but the damage was done. It was best to just go before she really did lose her control completely. "Tell Kevin I meant what I said. He needs to stay out of trouble," she told Bronx, starting up the bridge.

He couldn't bring himself to look at her, but he nodded, and that was a good enough answer. As she got on the ship, the door closed behind her, and she turned to see Motte sitting in one of the chairs at the front, leaning away from the console. "Motte, if you need anything else while we're here, we don't have to leave yet." Something in his attitude had changed, but he shook his head. "Look, I promised you I would help you find your daughter, and it would have been nice to have Kevin's help, but we don't need him to do it."

"No," Motte said, biting out the words. "We won't." One of his wings twitched and she glanced over at the medical bay area on the ship. What was he referring to? His daughter? Or Kevin?

"We should take care of your injuries. I can put the ship on autopilot before we go back and-"

"I'm fine, Tennyson. None of your medicines can help me anyway. I'll heal on my own. But we need to get the hell out of here before any other shit happens that we can't control." He hesitated, inhaling in a long and ragged breath. "I should drive. That way you can get some sleep." Gwen stared at him for a second, concerned as she saw him shiver. Necrofriggian's couldn't get cold.

"Motte, is everything okay?"

"Just fine," he hissed, returning to the console. He punched in a few commands and Gwen walked over to the copilot chair and sat down to take over. "You should go to bed," he said again.

"I'll be fine and I'll get some sleep later, when we're close to home." She knew she needed sleep, but didn't exactly feel like she could rest right now. He fell back against his chair and let her handle everything else. She couldn't peg what his mood was, but there was a definite gloom in the air that made her think back to his little talk with Kevin. As the ship's engines roared alive and they broke from the ground, Gwen saw Bronx leap down from the cliff without a moment's hesitation. She put in the coordinates necessary to get them back to Earth, allowing herself a moment to feel absolutely nothing as they left the moon's atmosphere and started back out on the journey home. If she had honestly thought about it, she was pretty sure her defenses would fall and all of her emotions would come barreling out.

And she really didn't want to deal with that.

They were about an hour into the drive back, and she was wasting time by determining what her next move would be when she got home. The kids were a top priority. She'd probably get back and check on some old friends to see if they learned anything new in her absence. It was a decent start anyway, even if she didn't feel ready to come up with phase two of the master plan that was going to solve all her problems. The ship was eerily quiet, mostly because Motte refused to carry a conversation. He just stared out at the stars through the front of the ship. She almost jumped as he finally moved, his chest heaving as he breathed out a very low sigh. "Fuck this," he whispered. "You can't help me like this."

Well at least he was still himself. But before she could reply, he walked over to her side of the console and put the ship on autopilot. "You're useless if you don't get any sleep, Tennyson. I can watch the ship, it's not like I can stress myself out by sitting in a chair. I know you're probably thinking about what you want to do next, but it can wait. You _look _exhausted. Everything about you is pitiful." She was beginning to get a little irritated, but she didn't feel like starting up an argument with him. Somehow, Kevin's decision almost seemed like her fault, and she couldn't blame Motte for pointing out the truth so bluntly. "And if you don't get some sleep, you'll just get weaker and weaker."

She rose from her chair slowly, agreeing. Gwen doubted she would actually be able to sleep, but she could definitely think and relax a little better in her own room on the ship. Arguing with him wouldn't help anyway. She could tell from his stiff posture and the tension in his voice that he wasn't willing to compromise. Sadly, everything he said was also true.

"If you see any ships heading our way, let me know. And if you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask. Are you sure you don't want to take care of those injuries now?" It was nice to ask, but he shook his head and as she got up, he sat down in her chair. Instead of checking the scanners or doing anything, Motte ducked his head and glared down at his feet.

When he spoke, his words were soft. "I'm sorry for bringing you out here for nothing, Tennyson. I didn't think you honestly believed Levin would help, but you did. And I'm sorry for that too."

Any other person might have left, but Gwen stayed, uncertain of what to think about his tone. In the time that she had known him, Motte was never truly sorry for anything, and he never spoke so softly. "Motte. What did you and Kevin talk about?" She couldn't ignore it anymore. Something was wrong and he didn't want to tell her about it.

"Does it matter?" He asked, finally looking up. His green eyes rested on her as he half turned in his chair. "Nothing I said changed his mind. Though I gave it a shot." She wanted to inquire as to what _exactly _happened, but he averted his gaze back to the front of the ship. "I tried, but forget it. I'll keep watch and grab you when I need a break." Again, he returned to the stiff backed body language of before, and she sighed. There was no getting through to him. Maybe that was for the best. Thinking about Kevin wasn't exactly going to help anybody.

She left him then, taking her time as she moved down the narrow passages leading back to her personal room. Technically, this ship was Plumber property and borrowed. They told her she could keep it for as long as she needed it, but what that really translated into was something like: bring it back in one piece, please, and as soon as you possibly can. She reached out to push the door to her room open, thinking that returning the ship should probably be up at the top of her to-do list. She didn't need anybody else harassing her at this point.

"Finally."

She barely had time to think about what was happening. A blue object swept around the doorway and locked around her arm, tugging her into the room with enough force to send her stumbling to the ground. Damn it, she was starting to get really, really tired of falling. But the thought only just managed to register before a very wet sensation started to climb up the same arm. Gwen jerked her gaze up and paled.

"I was wondering when my angry little Anodite would finally come in."


	4. Wrath

**Disclaimer: **Nope. xD I still don't own stuff.

**Rating: **Chapter Rated T (Language and Creep Factor _ )

**Author Note: **Here's another chapter. Happy reading! xD

4

Wrath

"What are you doing here?" Gwen asked, lowering her gaze down to her arms. She was right in assuming he belonged to a very malleable species. His arm barely had to stretch across the room to reach her, but each of his long fingers were coiling around her body and locking her arms together like a snake would immobilize its prey. She hadn't noticed the first time he touched her, but now she realized his skin was wet and numbingly cold, almost like ice. Something in his touch made her senses crawl again. The blotches of blue color below his transparent surface sifted back and forth in his body like rocking waves, and his eyes drew into thin slits as if he could feel the panic flaring up inside her. A ripple rolled across his entire body.

"I know you're thinking of bringing up some of that mana you love so much." His voice drew into a hurried whisper as he went on and she shivered. What had they called him again? Loch? "Do it. I dare you."

But she couldn't. Gwen had to concentrate extremely hard not to use her powers; she didn't want any impulsive mistakes to happen like what transpired in the storage room when Kevin showed up. Conserving energy at this point was probably a bad idea, but what choice did she have? Her thoughts were skipping around erratically, and her control was hanging by a thread. Thankfully, her attention was pulled away from using her powers when her captor leaned forward. For the first time, she noticed he was lying back on her bed, his back against the wall and his long legs propped up on a chair in the corner.

"Pity," he said with a sigh. "You're brimming with so much of it."

"What do you want?" Her voice faltered as his grip tightened and threatened to crush her. She didn't think a grip that was as soft and wet as his actually had the capacity to hurt as much as it did. But as she grimaced, she saw tiny bolts of white dance across his skin. Electricity? Or something else? Any attempt to ask was squashed brutally out of her as the coils around her body grew tauter than before. He'd break something at this rate, and she barely managed to breathe the word, "Stop," in time to warn him.

As soon as she said it, his hold slackened, but not enough to release her. "My, my. So fragile."

"I'm warning you," she said, her eyes narrowing on him as he tilted his head to the side. He curled the long fingers of his other hand in close to his face, his dark eyes glinting as if considering a proposition. "If you don't let me go-"

"You'll what?" He interrupted. "Throw mana at me?" He chuckled, reaching out with his other hand and brushing a cold finger across her cheek. "Go ahead." That was more than enough to set her off, screw her control. Gwen's eyes turned a violent, magenta shade, and overlooking the severe consequences, she summoned up enough mana to blow a hole in the ship and directed it to her hands first, to break from his grip. As the energy flowed down her arms, discomfort followed. She knew she was testing her limits by using more mana, but she thought the pain would feel different when she lost her humanity.

The last time she almost gave up her human body, it was exhilarating. The promise of power during that moment was irresistible and all encompassing. But this felt completely different. She wasn't moving towards infinite possibility; she was drawing _away _from it. And suddenly all the hardships and the pressure of the past two months came crashing down on her, sinking into her body with such a force that it caused her vision to burst into a mosaic of strange colors. A black void tore through the center and swallowed all the various bits and pieces until darkness weighed heavily on her mind.

"Impressive," a familiar voice breathed in the void.

She struggled to get her eyes to open, and when she did, her vision swam. Shades of blue sifted in and out of focus until she forced her eyes shut again. Her stomach clenched miserably and a very sour taste built in the back of her mouth, making her nauseous. She was aware that she was still in her room, and regrettably, nothing had changed. He wasn't blown to bits, he still had a firm grasp on her, she felt sick and she knew he had something to do with it. "What did you do to me?"

"Anodites are such wonderful creatures. They have access to all the energy in the universe. And I have one right now that knows how to throw a delicious temper tantrum." She shuddered, opening her eyes again as she felt him trail his fingers through her hair. His eyes were once again forming a sickening smile, and the delight behind his words was uncanny.

"Stop _touching _me!"

This time, just as the energy flared up into something she could use, she saw as much as felt it being drawn from her body. It didn't _hurt_, but it was uncomfortable, and the magenta hue of her mana flickered out like a dying fire against the blue surface of his skin. The more energy she conjured up, the quicker she felt it dissipate into nothing. It created a growing dread in her, and the sensation of losing that power brought up a painful memory of Kevin.

When _he _took her energy, the pain was enormous. He wasn't just stealing it, he was ripping it from her body with enough force to kill her, leaving her nothing in return. But this was something else. Kevin could take what he wanted, she could feel him reaching in and stripping the mana from her without her consent. But Loch wasn't doing that. As disgusted and perturbed as she was by him, she knew she had to cut off the connection between herself and the energy. As soon as she did, his smile vanished.

"Aren't we a clever little energy being?"

Gwen tensed, her stomach churning. She was beginning to feel sick again, and it wasn't all that hard to figure out why. It was just terrifying to realize: she couldn't do anything. Her abilities were completely ineffective against him. He would just-

"I eat it," he said coolly, his words more of a whisper than normal. She glared up at him, trying hard to ignore how much she wanted to vomit. "I've been so tempted to find myself a fledging like you. Fully realized Anodites are a nuisance. They figure out their mana doesn't work on my people and they drop everything and leave because they just don't care about anything. Such a nonsensical species you belong to, my little energy being." Gwen was beginning to see a pattern in nicknames here, and she didn't like either of them. "You see?" He lifted her closer to him, laughing. "You get angry and emotional and expend energy. I could get used to having an Anodite like you. Come now, don't be selfish. Share some more of that mana with me."

At least this much was clear: feeding him energy was out of the question, if only because he enjoyed it too much and she was beginning to _hate _him, immensely. From all appearances, he couldn't use the mana himself, but she didn't want to take any chances. That stubbornness must have reflected back in the look she gave him, because she watched the surface of his skin waver. Each one of his eyes opened wide and considered her in silence, and a moment later his fingers coiled tighter around her body, forcing the air out of her lungs.

"I'm sorry," he hissed. "I shouldn't have presented it as an option." She gasped and for a split second her courage faltered as his grip threatened to crush her. "Allow me to simplify," he breathed, "either give me more mana, or I will kill you."

He wasn't joking. She fought to respond, mostly because it was getting dangerously hard to breathe, but when she did, she made sure it wouldn't be to his liking. "You kill me…and you won't get anything, will you?" Loch wasn't like Kevin. He couldn't reach in and just take what he wanted. She had to give it to him, and that wasn't going to happen.

His shoulders shook first as the laugh carried through his body. It was enough to deflate some of her confidence, but she was buying time to think. Two things occurred to her, though they weren't necessarily helpful. The first was that she needed to get the hell out of this room. She felt caged in here when the only exit was through a halfway open door and Loch took up so much space that the room felt smaller than it was. Second, Motte was in the cabin. Gwen didn't want to drag him into this when he was already in such bad shape, but she couldn't fight Loch. As terrible as it was to admit it, she was useless in this situation. Even years of martial arts lessons couldn't help her against an alien like him.

"You're so precious," Loch said after he finished laughing. "I'm almost tempted to keep you for myself." The color drained from her face and she shivered. Kept? Oh hell no. He said it before in attempt to piss her off, but this time, it was different. He was touching her again with his other hand, petting her like a cat while drawing her closer to his chest. "I know just what to do to make you angry. And there are other methods besides these. Now tell me." His tone dipped back into a whisper. "Are you going to give me mana like a good little Anodite should, or am I going to require a more persuasive means to obtain it?"

What in the hell did that mean? That sounded terrifying and she really didn't want to think about it. She needed more time. "Why…why are you really here?" She had a pretty good guess. Like Kevin, he worked for Genix. Only, Loch seemed to have more personal love for his job than Kevin did, and his obsession with Anodites must have turned her into some kind of irresistible prize to him. At least the question caused the petting gestures to stop temporarily as he mulled it over.

"Well-" he began, though he bellowed a second later, dropping her to the floor. Under other circumstances she might have bolted out the door and went looking for Motte. But as soon as she hit the floor, she looked back, bewildered. She hadn't done anything to hurt him, so what just happened? Loch kept on wailing, his entire body darkening into a deeper shade of blue as he tossed the arm that formerly held her around the room. Half of it was encompassed in ice.

"You should know better," a familiar voice growled from the doorway. Motte's green eyes were bright, and his crippled wings were folded over his body like a cloak once again. It must have been uncomfortable to wear them like that, because she could still see the unnatural angles and lines his wings created over his body due to injuries. "She's not yours."

"How dare you," Loch roared and smashed his crystallized arm against the wall, sending chunks of ice scattering everywhere. Gwen was already to her feet and halfway across the room. It was time to grab Motte and go. But Motte snatched her shoulder at the last second.

"Wait," he hissed. "There's something I have to do first."

"We have to g-!" Colors burst into her line of sight again, the wind knocked from her lungs as a strong weight slammed into her abdomen. Gwen doubled instantly, holding her middle while pain erupted in her lower body. A second blow struck her while she was down, forcing her to the floor. She could barely breathe, and when she opened her eyes again, her vision blurred, fading in and out. Footsteps echoed in her ears one second and were gone the next. Her eyes flickered up once to see Motte with his back turned away from her. He glanced over her shoulder in her direction, their eyes met and he said something. She couldn't make out what it was, but he looked angry and upset. A surge of pain rolled down her back, eating away at her consciousness. Out of the corner of her eye, something metallic glinted, and before she lost it completely, her eyes flickered towards it.

It was her badge. As her mind slipped into darkness, it flooded the room in neon green light.

A migraine. That's what it felt like right now.

Never mind how the rest of her felt as if somebody had taken a baseball bat and beaten her with it multiple times. A searing kind of cold helped to numb some of what she was feeling, but Gwen suspected that it wasn't a good thing. Before she opened her eyes –and she didn't really think it would be a good idea in the first place- a chill that had nothing to do with the cold swept through her. It had an eerie kind of feel to it, and sent her senses whirring. Voices started to filter in, and when she began to understand them she relented and opened her eyes.

The light in the cabin actually made her head throb. Thankfully, some of it couldn't reach her. An enormous object was blocking the light from hitting her full on, but as her eyes focused, her spirits fell again. Loch's face lingered a few inches in front of her, and at such a close range, she could see dark blue globules break away from the heavier blue masses floating around underneath his skin. Well. His close proximity explained the nausea and the creep factor. God, how long had he been there? She jerked her gaze away from him and off to the side, but he just stretched his head over there too and continued to look at her.

"I knew my little energy being would wake up eventually."

_My little energy being. Damn it._

This time Gwen closed her eyes. She didn't want to look at him because she was getting angry again, and knowing that depressed her - he was getting to her. "Please." She was shocked to hear how hollow and weak her voice was. She wasn't on the verge of tears, but there was a definite hint of defeat below her words that she absolutely loathed and could do nothing about. She hesitated long enough to sort out her thoughts and fix it, but nothing changed. "Stop. Calling me that." Maybe she was just tired. It seemed so much better than admitting to herself that he was beginning to affect her.

"You'd rather I pet you again?" He laughed and continued to do so, even when she turned her green eyes on him, pissed. She would have retaliated to get him to leave her alone, but a flicker of movement over his shoulder caught her attention instead. It was impossible to mistake those black and white markings that made up Motte and his wings, even though they were folded abnormally over his body to form a beat up version of a cloak. Upon meeting his gaze, she remembered the scene in the room and tensed. The pain rolling through her abdomen made much more sense.

Before she could even think of what to say, words spilled out of her mouth. "This won't get your daughter back." Loch laughed again, but Motte tore his eyes from her. She flushed out of anger and embarrassment, turning her attention down to her restraints. The source of the cold was obvious now. She was a few feet up from the ground and her lower body was encased in ice. She couldn't move either of her arms, but it wouldn't be too hard to break out of it with-

A cold finger pressed into her forehead and pushed her head back against the wall. "I know what you're thinking," Loch said. "And I think you should."

"Don't waste your time, Tennyson," Motte picked up. He kept looking away from her to check on something else over near the console, but Loch was in the way so she couldn't see what it was. "Below the ice there's a layer of that shit he's made of. It'll just absorb whatever you try to do."

_Kill me now. Even if he weren't touching me, he'd still be touching me._

She glanced down as Loch removed his finger, remembering how he shattered almost half of his arm by slamming it against the wall after it was frozen. As far as she could tell, his arm was fine and completely intact, which meant one thing. He could regenerate, or at least recollect old bits and pieces of himself after they were torn apart. Either or made sense when she considered what he appeared to be made of. She'd have to find a way to deal with him at some point, but now she knew it would be extremely difficult to kill him. The thought of it surprised her. Loch was the first person in her life that she honestly wanted to kill, and the realization hit her hard.

As for Motte. Her eyes skimmed across the room and over to him, where he had his back turned on her. He was standing close to the pilot chair, but hunched over a particular section of the ship that she recognized. He was watching the scanners. It occurred to her that she'd been out for a while, and as her eyes slid over towards the windshield, she noticed that the ship wasn't moving. Motte had stalled the engines and now they were lying in wait for something, probably a Genix team to pick them up. Gwen tried to feel something as she watched his back – a flicker of rage, for instance, or disappointment. Anything, really.

But there was nothing.

It hurt of course. She kept wondering about when he decided to give up on her, at what point in the road he thought it would be easier to use her as a bargaining chip. How could he even know that Genix was responsible for his missing daughter? There were so many questions she wanted to ask but didn't want to hear the answers to. She just wanted to see how he would react. Sadly, this was her luck lately. It reached an all time low when Loch showed up in her room earlier, and now it was getting worse. Most people would just give up, but there had to be a way out of this. She didn't want to think about what Genix would do to her the minute they had her.

It definitely didn't help that Loch was working for Genix either.

"They should be here soon," Motte said. "It's been hours, where are they?" He veered around to look at Loch, but Gwen was the only one who paid attention. "You promised me this would work, and if they don't show up-"

Ah. Gwen stayed quiet as Loch pulled away from her and turned his attention to Motte. That explained some things. If Loch was involved, the betrayal probably didn't start until they were near the mines. Not that this was anything to celebrate about either – knowing Motte he'd do anything to have his daughter back. At least she took solace in the fact that he couldn't meet her gaze.

"Is it so hard, to bear witness to the consequences of your actions while she's conscious?" Loch's skin rippled again. He was so amused it made her sick.

"It would be a lot easier if you would stop touching her, twisted bastard," Motte hissed, swerving on his feet to pay attention to the scanners again. Loch's body swelled briefly before he curled his fingers into a heavy fist. Gwen knew all about Loch's hatred for a smartass –learned it the hard way- she just never imagined Motte would deliberately incite his anger. Did it surprise her that they were having trouble working together? No. She thought to drag Loch away from Motte by saying something, but now that he was out of the way, she could see the front of the ship in its entirety, and she zeroed in on one thing in particular.

The green glow was what gave it away.

She actually attempted to lean forward a little, her heart wrenching painfully in her chest. Her badge was sitting at the front of the console next to the pilot's chair, and every few minutes it sent off a burst of green light. "H… how long has it been doing that?" She shook her head when neither of them answered – they were too busy snarling at each other – but when it flashed again she raised her voice. "How long has it been doing that?" She could recall a bright green light before she lost consciousness, but she didn't expect to see _this. _It was a pattern of flashes, increasing by the second.

Loch had his hand drawn back as if he wanted to swat Motte across the room, but they both turned to look at her the second time she spoke. Silence fell over them in response, though she almost panicked when Loch's fingers whipped over to the badge and plucked it off the console. "Why?" He asked, all of his eyes peering down at the badge.

Her breath caught. "Just…let me see it."

Loch stared at her while Motte watched the green glow that emanated from the center of her badge again, transfixed. She wondered who had picked it up and brought it in here. Neither of them seemed to understand what that signal meant, and for second it almost earned a smile out of her. Almost though, was too close for Loch. He'd been watching, and now he cocked his head to the side, his voice soft. "Will you give me mana?"

Mana? "What?" She asked. He started to repeat what he said. "No, no," she said. "I heard you. I just…you're…you're an addict. You're insatiable. You've been touching me, petting me, you stole every drop of energy I threw at you, you've threatened me, and you keep calling me these stupid pet names that I can't stand and you _still want more_." As she went on, her frustration seeped into her words, her eyes sparking indignantly. Loch stood absolutely still, but Motte's eyes widened slowly, as if seeing her for the first time. "I just asked for one thing. One thing before everything gets worse. It's not as if I asked you to let me go. It's much too late for that," she snapped. "I just wanted to see my badge! That's all. And you have the gall to ask me, after everything that's happened, to give you mana for it! It's mine! And I swear to god if I don't get to see it right now I will find a way to get down from here and you will both spend the rest of your lives wishing you were stuck in the null void instead of on this ship with me!"

Okay. That felt out of character. Gwen let out the breath she'd been holding in since the start of her tirade, shivering. She chocked it up to serious stress, the inability to feel safe on her own ship, Motte's betrayal and Kevin's refusal to come back with her. That alone seemed like enough to drive anybody crazy. Tack on physical and emotional trauma and then it might come close to what she was actually feeling.

"Give her the badge," Motte whispered, the first to break the awkward silence. Gwen felt heat rush to her face, but she was much too angry to care about being embarrassed right now.

"I'll show it to her," he mumbled back, the first and only time Gwen saw him act so meekly. He stretched his arm out across the room, holding the badge up for her inspection. Just when she thought she could actually be happy about something, the ship's alarm systems went off and the earsplitting siren made her head throb again. She recognized the alert: another ship was approaching fast, and before she could have a good, hard look at her badge, Loch curled his fingers back over it and turned to look out the front of the ship.

"That would be them," Loch said, indifferent. "Genix ships are outfitted with the latest in stealth system technology. Wouldn't surprise me if a merchant ship didn't pick it up but this belongs to the Plumbers. There's only one type of ship that can trick these systems," he continued, voice low. "It's probably a Specter. They don't use those unless the boss himself decides he wants to go somewhere."

"You're sure it's Genix?" Motte hissed. His breath began to plume in the air – he was nervous and jumping over to the scanner to check things out. "It's not showing up on the damn screen."

"But we're picking up something, aren't we?" Loch's eyes were swiveling about everywhere, likely trying to pin down a target in space. "We just can't see it. I'm telling you, it's a Specter. Did they really send the boss himself out here to grab her? Interesting." He might have gone on to say something else, but before he could, all three of them were blinded by a brilliant white light that poured through the windshield. Gwen closed her eyes, wishing that the sirens would stop ringing in her ears and praying that they were both wrong. It was much too soon. She had absolutely no idea on how she was going to get out of this mess, and if she couldn't buy more time…

She opened her eyes as the glaring light dimmed. A deep rumble shook the walls of the ship and Gwen felt her stomach lurch as the lights in the room flickered temporarily. "I knew it. A Specter." She raised her eyes to the front where Loch was, and just like that, she knew it was over. As if it had always been there, a first class stealth frigate hovered right outside in front of the nose of their ship. Up close the Specter was jet black –Gwen thought she spotted silky grey and white spots along the surface too- and sleek to maximize speed. It was three times as intimidating as some of the most powerful battle cruisers she knew about, if only because that damn thing managed to stay hidden until now.

As quiet as a cat, it drifted around to the side of their ship and docked. As it disappeared from view, her heart rate picked up. This was it? Really?

"I didn't see the Genix logo on that thing," Motte hissed.

"Specters don't have logos, moron," Loch said, his patience wearing thin. "There's not a faster frigate in the galaxy, but if they _were_ caught, Genix wouldn't want the technology traced back to them. I hear the boss had a personal hand in creating them. Not everybody gets one." An interface was brought up at the front of the console, and Motte immediately turned to address it. Gwen tensed, her eyes darting between them both as she tried to think of what to do. But what could she do? Dammit! Dread rose in her chest, so thick that she struggled to say something.

"Motte, wait." She searched his back as he went rigid, and a twitch in the folds of his wings was the only clue that he was listening at all. "Don't do this."

"Isn't that cute. Getting desperate, aren't we?" Loch laughed, crossing the room and regaining some of his old habits by brushing two fingers through her hair. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of caring, she focused on Motte. He still had his back to her, and he didn't respond to the request on the interface either. At least it was buying time, but she would feel much, much better if he could just look at her and she could judge his reaction.

"Motte, there is no guarantee they have your daughter. Even if they did, it would be stupid to give her back to you." He cringed as if she had just struck him but it was the truth. And right now the truth was buying her time so she went with it. "She's the perfect bargaining chip for you. Logically they'd just keep her and force you to do whatever they want you to-" she cut off as Loch whipped his hand up and slid his fingers around her neck, drawing a gasp out of her as his cold fingers dug in and literally started to choke her of air.

"Keep. Your mouth. Shut," he hissed. "I'm not playing games with you anymore. You fuck this up for me and I won't get to keep you. I won't be _happy _if I don't get to keep you. And if I'm not happy. Nobody. Is happy. Do you understand me?"

Holy shit he was being serious. He unraveled his fingers from her neck and she took a deep breath in when he did, but she had never heard such a direct and honest threat in her entire life. For a split second her mind went blank, but Loch jumped right back into action. "Give them permission to board already and open the doors to the bridge! I have to talk to the boss."

Nobody moved.

"Fine. I'll do it," Loch snarled, walking up to the front of the ship and shoving Motte out of the way. Whether the necrofriggian cared or not was unclear. He caught himself by reaching out for the pilot chair in time, but his eyes were somewhere off in the distance. He was shutting down. Loch was right – Motte couldn't deal with the consequences of his actions when they were able to talk back to him and plead with him. She felt a small amount of pity for him, but Loch opened the bridge and she forgot about him entirely. This couldn't be happening.

"Now, I will be right back, my little energy being. And Motte. Stop looking so down." Loch's cheeriness was like a slap in the face after such a blatant threat. "This is going to be great. You're getting your daughter back." A flurry of noises from the console let them all know that somebody was boarding the ship. Before he moved into the hall, he paused once to look at Gwen, though she barely registered him. Her mind was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "Aw. You look so sad. What's the matter with both of you?" Slowly, she met his gaze, her brows furrowing. This took insulting to a whole new level. Her contempt for him must have been apparent, because his shoulders shook with more laughter.

"I love making you angry. It's adorable." He reached out to touch her again but paused as metal screeched down the hall. It was so loud that it actually caused Gwen's ears to ring. "What the hell," Loch said, twisting around to face the corridor. The minute he stepped out into the hall, a large grey slab of bent up metal smacked him in the face and sent him barreling backwards into the console. Bits and pieces of his body splattered everywhere in piles of blue slop, and Gwen stared, wide eyed at the rest of him that went limp under the hunk of metal.

"You're_ never_ touching her again."


	5. From Where We Stand

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything Ben 10 related. I have no intention of making any money off of this fanfiction. Again.

**Rating: **Rated T (For Kevin's mouth and temper. What else is new?)

**Author Note: ** I know this is late. I've been busy with the life fate has found fit to bestow upon me. This includes loads of college work. I appreciate the concerns some of you have shown for both myself and the fanfiction. It makes me happy to know that you enjoy this story enough to inquire as to my whereabouts on Fridays. You should know that though my muse has run off and hasn't answered my calls (that ungrateful jerk) I am in the process of tracking him down. With bloodhounds.

5

From Where We Stand

"Kevin! _Stop_!"

Short of shrieking, it was the first and only time in his life where he heard her scream at him so loud, and he felt his heart trip. The turbulence of his temper ebbed away like a drifting tide pulled back into a calm sea. At first, every muscle in his body tensed. He was aware that his knuckles were sore and wet with a silver substance that burned his skin, but he had a strong grip on something cold in his left hand. He remembered vaguely what he was doing, shifting his dark eyes until he was looking down on the beat up face of an old comrade: Motte. The alien's skin was ice cold to the touch.

_He let it happen_, a voice hissed at the back of his mind. _Anything could have happened to her._ His fist paused mid strike, the urge to finish the job so strong that falling back over the edge would be easy. He _wanted _to finish. If it was over, there was no threat. In the old days, he might have shown more mercy, but now-

"Kevin."

Fuck. Kevin tensed again at the sound of her voice, this time so quiet. Pleading. His jaw clenched before a violent tremor passed up his back, his eyes locking on the body in front of him. Motte was an unholy mess. His blood was everywhere, spilling in heavy silver streams from his tattered wings and battered chest. Kevin knew the necrofriggian would never fly again, not with so much damage; there was a good possibility he wouldn't even survive the next hour. Motte's breathing was barely existent, his face so bruised that the sounds he made were shallow and one of his eyes was coated in blood.

Did he deserve his pity? No. That was why Kevin froze, his patience thinning at the sound of her voice and the implications behind it.

"Gwen," he said, his voice low, "he betrayed you. They could have killed you. _He _was helping." He growled it out around his teeth. "I helped you down so you could get out of here, away from them," he growled. And what if he hadn't shown up at the last second? Kevin's anger bristled again as he watched the necrofriggian, his grip tightening around the piece of his wing that was wrapped around Motte's body– he could rip it off in a heartbeat. Why hadn't the moron gone intangible yet? Kevin knew he could do it. It would have spared the necrofriggian a lot of agony, so why wasn't the bastard using it to his advantage?

"Kevin. Please." His eyes widened this time and his fist dropped, the will to hit the alien falling away as he heard her kneel behind him. One of her hands touched his shoulder hesitantly, in the kind of tentative way that told numbers about her state of mind. He remembered then, some of the events before the rage hit. How he helped her down first, slamming a fist into the ice and causing the entire structure to shatter. He remembered the look of disbelief on her face and the shock that would eventually turn into what it was now, and how it would break his heart to hear it.

"Please stop," she whispered, tension spreading down his back at how her voice cracked. "Please."

She was crying.

She touched her forehead to his back and he felt all the muscles in his body slacken. The metal he absorbed earlier into his body started to fade, and he watched the skin of his hands resurface with a kind of incredulity. He wasn't bothered by how his skin continued to sting, now much more painfully than before. What bothered him was how he felt her fingers curl into his shirt at the shoulder and how she trembled against him, her words breaking.

Gwendolyn Tennyson?

Maybe he was rusty on the whole teamwork crap after five years apart - and yeah, he could remember a few dark times back then, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. But he couldn't recall a single moment where Gwen genuinely sounded so…broken. Her voice cut him to the core, and as he turned to face her, his blood heated, fueled by an intolerable mix of rage, sympathy and lament, he found the swirling mass of emotions melting into the desperate need to fix it.

"Gwen. Don't." He was gentle with his words, careful with his hands. The concern, he knew, was evident all over his face, but he didn't care.

She really was in tears.

Gwen released his shoulder effortlessly as he turned around and pulled her close, trying to hide her face behind the same hand as she raised it to her eyes. But the damage was done. Everything he felt for her in that instant meshed with unadulterated contempt for Loch and Motte. He could understand why she was upset. The things he imagined happening to her while their voices played through to his badge pissed him off. But this… Not couldn't have broken her. Not Gwendolyn Tennyson. His jaw set, his temper flaring in silence as seconds ticked by. He slid his eyes over to where Loch used to be, but the alien was gone. The bent strip of metal Kevin ripped from the wall to throw at him sat against the console, lonely without its victim. He must have fled in the chaotic fight with Motte, and because he had been in such a blind rage, Kevin failed to notice. He took in a long, slow breath, his dark eyes brimming with anger while he held Gwen close.

He failed to fucking notice.

He closed his eyes, trying to still his thoughts and the anger. So much of Gwen's pain centered on that bastard. The threats alone, the little things he did to her, when Loch started to _hurt _her and Kevin listened to her plead with him to stop over the communications between their badges- Loch would be hard to kill, but there was no doubt in his mind. Kevin would kill him. She could convince him to keep his hands off of Motte, but Loch was done for.

And as much as he wanted to hunt that bastard down and rip him from his hiding place on this ship, Kevin couldn't do it. He couldn't leave Gwen.

A low sigh escaped his throat as he forced himself to relax, sitting back and encircling her more fully in his arms. Gwen didn't protest, but a sob broke from her throat after the slight change, as if the security he provided held with it a subtle trust that he wouldn't judge her for it. He didn't.

He had forgotten how small she was. He had always been aware of their difference in size and physical strength, but this wasn't just small, this was fragile. Gwen had always been able to take care of herself. Independence was one of the defining qualities in her personality that defined who she was and what she stood for. Damn it all, she was an Anodite. She had enough power to blow up the ship and then some on a good day. Yet…he felt his arms drawing closer around her, as if to shield her from everyone and everything.

But could he?

His eyes darkened as her tears continued to fall in silence. He tried to change the subject. Anything to help her. "Gwen, you - "

One of her arms drifted up to his shoulder suddenly, digging her fingers into his shirt again while she cried. He noticed she couldn't bring herself to look at him, and though it frustrated him immensely, he could understand why she avoided doing so. She hid in his shoulder instead, and he tensed at the tremble that passed through her body.

"Don't tell Ben," she whispered, so softly that he barely caught it. "Please don't tell him."

Tell Ben? That idiot? Kevin growled under his breath, though his expression softened. He wasn't about to deny her that. "Gwen. I'm not gonna tell…anybody." He sighed, glancing over his shoulder at Motte. If the necrofriggian was still alive, and if he survived the next hour, he would probably never mention it either. As for Loch. Kevin slid his gaze over to the corridor that he came down when he first entered. That slimy bastard wasn't going to get far. "…I'm not gonna leave you here." He paused after he said it, giving that a moment to sink in. He refused her offer earlier, but this was different. " 'sides," he added, "I don't even like Ben and this ship's a piece of junk."

At least, now it was. He frowned as he glanced over his shoulder again. The console didn't look too pretty; not with necrofriggian blood splattered across it. Bits and pieces of blue slop that belonged to Loch were still around too, seeping into machinery.

"How did you know?"

Kevin drew his gaze back down to Gwen, wary to hear her speak. He knew what she meant, and he wasn't sure he should answer. "…does it matter?" He asked.

"Yes, it does matter."

"After you left, Motte got pissed and threw my badge. He broke it." Kevin reached into his pants pocket, realizing that this might be the best and only way to help her out of this state. When the badge was out in the open, he ran his thumb over a jagged crack on the surface. The badge shone a dim green and flickered, but now that he focused on it, there was also a hiss of static coming from it – not exactly a good sign.

"So you could hear everything," she whispered. He tensed as her fingers curled into his shirt and tugged, and he thought back to what she asked him earlier. She would have preferred he didn't know. If he had just shown up and as usual and screwed things up because of his temper. He almost wished the same thing. It wasn't like Gwen to be this way and he might not have answered her; he kept his eyes on his badge, knowing that even though she wasn't looking at him, she might as well be. "Kevin."

"Yeah," he said, hesitating. He couldn't lie to her. That would be worse than telling the truth. "I heard." He tried to keep a dangerous edge out of his tone, but it was hard. He might not have been there to see some of the things that Loch had done, but he heard every word that was said between them, and it was enough. "I'm not going to tell anybody, Gwen. He caught you on a bad day, when you were tired. He also had help."

"Kevin." He heard her breathe something else, some word or phrase that he couldn't catch before he felt her pulling away from him. He was torn between pulling her back and letting her go, and as he watched her bring a hand to her eyes, he started to reach for her again. She was quick to get up, and he frowned as he rose too, uncertain. "We… we need to go. Genix is sending another ship."

"Then it's one of the big leagues," he said, going along with the change in subject. It seemed to be helping her. For the moment, that was all that he could ask for. He watched her turn away from him, knowing she probably didn't want to look at the mess behind them. "I can take you home. We're not driving this thing back."

"Maybe we should stay," she said. She was regaining a bit of confidence, though she refused to look at him again.

"No." That was out of the question. He heard her say his name again but he shook his head. "I'm all for a fight right now." He wanted to hit just about anything. But Gwen was exhausted. He weighed the pros and cons of sticking around. A lot of people thought he was an idiot, which only worked to his advantage when he outsmarted them. "But if you want to catch these guys you do it on home turf. Earth might have a lot of problems right now but out here Genix has the advantage. Trust me. I work for them." He searched her face for a moment. "Don't even think about this Gwen. You have no idea how big the company is." He went for a quick change in subject before she could protest. "Am I allowed back on Earth?"

"Allowed back on.." she paused.

"Am I?" He growled. "You came asking for my help, but the way I saw it when I left was that the Plumbers and Ben would throw me in the null void again if I so much as set foot on that planet. I stuck around early on and then I left. There was nothing left for me there anyway. Couldn't sell a damn thing with you and Ben looking for me." Maybe they were both looking for him for different reasons, but it didn't matter now.

"Ben isn't there right now to care," Gwen said, but that didn't answer his question.

"So, no," he figured, stepping up closer to her. His eyes flashed, his voice low. "You asked me to come back and you know it'll cause problems when we get there. You're willing to deal with that? 'Cause I ain't apologizing to nobody."

"I don't expect you to apologize to anyone," she replied, finally turning a bit to face him. Her eyes were dark and there was hardly any emotion behind her words. She was trying hard to distance herself from what happened, and Kevin wasn't about to comment on how tired she looked and make things worse for her. "I don't think I explained it to you the way I should have before, Kevin. Things aren't…right, at home. Ben's only been gone for a short amount of time, but we've lost a lot. The kidnappings started a bit before he left and we didn't realize it until afterwards. A lot of the Plumbers on Earth right now are new recruits. They have almost no training, and the training they got from the Academy was poor."

Kevin tensed. His Father used to be a Plumber, and once, the name Plumber intimidated every criminal in the galaxy. His eyes narrowed to hear that it was more of a joke at this point. "What are you talking about?"

"The Academy isn't what it used to be, Kevin. I thought you knew. It was part of the reason I was so confused about why you would work for them." She looked away from him again and even though he braced himself for bad news, he was still pissed when she finally told him.

"They _what?" _

Gwen sighed. "They bought it, Kevin. Genix bought the Academy. It started with small donations which won a lot of the officers over and allowed them to recruit more. They fixed up classes and bought new equipment. Ben and I donated too, but we couldn't compare to the money Genix gave. We fought for months to keep the Academy from signing itself over to them, but in the end the officers thought it was for the best. The Board thought they could get the Plumbers back up to their old glory and strength again. At that time, Genix didn't have a bad reputation." She hesitated. "I want you to guess how many of the original officers are still around to realize Genix isn't what they thought it was."

* * *

Gwen touched a hand to her forearm while her back was turned on Kevin. He wasn't taking the news well. She heard him stalk halfway across the room and slam a fist into the side of the ship. The sad part of it was that she wasn't even really concerned about the Academy. Her mind was elsewhere, trying to piece together a plan that she could use when they were back on Earth. She ran her fingers over her skin, absently touching an area where Loch had wrapped his hands around her. She shivered, closing her eyes and swallowing a thick knot. For a split second her heart jumped; she remembered Kevin when he first came in. It was as fresh in her mind as if it were happening now.

_Motte reacted slower than he should have when Kevin stepped inside the cabin. He did, however, try to fight. His wings unfurled from his body in wide arcs, his chest heaving as he took in a deep breath. Gwen thought his best hope was to remain intangible and escape the ship, but he opted for a decision that would cost him dearly – she could see the lethal intent in Kevin's eyes. Maybe Motte panicked. But he was too slow. Kevin lurched forward and dropped to the ground. A wave of cold air flowed over him, missing him entirely . Kevin's arms glinted a heavy, metallic shade, and even though Motte stumbled to the side a few inches, he still hit the alien in the chest. There was a sickening crunch that echoed in her ears like the sound of a large cockroach that was smashed under a heavy boot. Motte gasped and hacked up silver colored blood almost immediately. _

Gwen shuddered. Kevin's anger was a force to be reckoned with. Her eyes slid over his shoulder in his direction again, trying not to think about how a lot of that anger was focused around her. A small trace of heat stirred in her chest before she quelled it. Kevin cared, at least. But the violence was nothing to be happy about. His temper still flared up as easily as it ever did, and in the midst of the fight, she wondered if contact with Motte had something to do with that.

_He did _try _to go intangible. Kevin must have been blind to the attempt though. He threw Motte into the console and turned towards her, to help her down. She tried to talk to him as he slammed his fist into a strip of the ice that encased her body, but Kevin was deaf and distant. The ice cracked and split in huge chunks, spider webbing out of control until she felt the pressure cave and collapsed to the floor as the ice burst apart. Motte moved in her peripheral vision, rasping deep in his throat. Half of the necrofriggian's body disappeared, and the rest of it might have followed if Kevin hadn't of ignored her and turned around to finish the job. She noticed then, when Kevin's fist slammed into the necrofriggian's jaw, that something wasn't right. _

_He was inadvertently absorbing Motte's abilities. Two intangible beings cancelled one another out, and when Kevin spoke, every word plumed on the air in a cold cloud. "I _warned _you," he snarled._

Gwen watched him, frowning slightly as he pounded the side of the ship again. He used to have a better control of his temper, particularly when he was working on the team. But now, it almost seemed as if the years alone had caused him to take a few steps back into his childhood, when he was most vulnerable to bouts of rage and senseless violence. She remembered those days and a few times where he confessed to her his fears of that impulsive temper. Maybe he just came to accept it as a part of himself, after he attempted to take her powers away all those years ago. He came dangerously close to taking her life too, which horrified him enough to hide, far away from her and Ben. There was no doubt in her mind, that she appreciated his strength. But she still wanted to help him. She knew he hated his temper as much as other people feared it.

"It's okay, Kevin," she said. Her eyes dropped down to her hand at her arm again. "Ben and I aren't going to let them have the Academy." His anger was justified. It was a particularly sensitive subject to him because of his father. Even if Kevin thought he belonged with Genix, he always held his father in high esteem. She thought for sure, years ago, that he was happy to be working with them because it brought him closer to his father and made him feel as if he could live up to his family name.

"They already have it," he growled. Gwen watched him place both arms up against the side of the ship, his eyes dark as he glared at the wall.

"For right now, yes. But it's not going to stay that way. At first, the new recruits were well trained. But after Genix…removed…the old officers and replaced them, you can see how that changed. It happened very quickly. Ben and I will probably have to help the place get back up on its feet after all of this is over with but…well it's safe to assume that there aren't going to be many Plumbers to care if you're there or not when we get back. The ones that matter already know you. And if I say I asked for you help, they won't bother either of us. But we'll get the Academy back, Kevin."

"That wasn't even your main problem," he said after a tense moment. Gwen dropped her hand away from her arm and turned to face him. It wasn't.

"Kevin. I know you don't like it. But there's a connection here between Genix and these kidnappings. There has to be. It's all too organized to be some rogue alien. I don't even know what to do if it that's the case and the events _are _unrelated. Ben might have left to solve a bigger problem, but he also thought that leaving would help ease the burden on the Plumbers. For a long time, we were sure he was the target. He was wrong. He's not. And now that he's gone, Genix, along with the kidnapper, have picked up their game. The first time I tried to take Genix down, they placed a bounty on my head. The price has gone steadily up, and at the same time, more and more kids are missing."

She paused, her breath catching. She didn't want to think about Motte and his situation. Motte's last act was one of desperation, and she couldn't help but to think that, under different circumstances, he might have made a good Plumber. Gwen couldn't stand by and allow others to be driven to the brink like that. "Kevin, if we don't do something soon, there won't be anyone left."

"Is it just hybrids?" he asked, still glaring at the wall in front of him.

She nodded. "As long as there's a mix in alien and human DNA. One doesn't have to be more prevalent than the other, which makes it hard to figure out why it's happening. The targets are always young and…unable to defend themselves." Unlike some of the Plumbers, who were experienced enough with their powers to fight back and provide a bit of a challenge. Still, that didn't stop some of them from going missing too.

"Then we need to go. Now." Kevin shoved himself away from the wall, and Gwen stared at him as he crossed the room. She was surprised by the sudden reaction. She had mentioned these things to him before. Maybe she added a few more details this time around, but why was he upset now and barely stopped to think about it earlier? She went back through the things she said, trying to find the trigger that caused him to worry. When he stepped in front of her though and proceeded to walk down the hall, she gave up on it.

"Kevin, don't you get it? This is why we need to stay _here_. If Genix is sending some of their best, one of those people could have the answers we're looking for. We need to-"

"No," he said, stopping in the middle of the corridor. She followed after him, heading towards the bridge, aggravated with his tone. He was adamant that they were leaving, and she didn't understand why. This could work. They just needed a strategy. Even if none of the men were involved with the kidnappings, surely one of them would have answers to other questions. She was about to retaliate again when he interrupted her. "Gwen. They might know a few things, but there's going to be a lot of them. Genix doesn't skimp. They'll be bringing a lot of extra thugs. I don't mind getting in a fight," he added, his brows furrowing as he shifted around to face her. "But you just told me there's a good chance that a high ranked Genix member has been taking kids. From the sound of things, those kids don't come back." Gwen winced from his blunt tone. "And then you told me that they probably do it because those kids can't fight back."

Kevin took in a deep breath. They were close again, as they were the first time she found him. The proximity caused her to think of the intimacy they shared only a little bit ago, and like before, she found herself unable to say what she wanted to say. Gwen knew she could trust him to keep a secret, but if it were left up to her, she would never have wanted him to know. Something softened in his expression too, as if he could see past her silence and what she was thinking about. She was immediately glad that the corridor was dark, because yet again she felt a strange heat stir in her that commanded she pay attention to him.

This wasn't like before.

She kept trying to tell herself that their relationship was over. It ended years ago, when Kevin had moved on – literally. He might have still cared about her, but it was not the same level of concern that it might have been once. She was frustrated with herself for considering it again, as if it was still a possibility. She missed him. But, that part of their relationship was over now. It never culminated into anything and it likely never would. She just wished she could accept it.

"I think you forgot," Kevin said, pulling her back to reality. "You're a hybrid too." Suddenly his train of thought made sense, and as it clicked into place, she flushed, looking away. It wasn't like her to be so flustered. Gwen tilted her head down, raising a hand up to her face and touching a few fingers to her forehead delicately. She ignored her hair as it fell over her shoulders and helped to shield her from him. She wasn't about to break down again, but she didn't want him to notice the effect he was beginning to have on her either. The only thing worse than being told she had to sit this one out would be complicating the matter by making it awkward for them both to work together.

The way she saw it, Kevin probably didn't have those feelings anymore.

When Kevin spoke, Gwen was relieved to hear him continue on with his thought. But it went in a direction she didn't like. "I don't care about me," he said, causing some part of her to bristle. _I care_, a thought hissed at the back of her mind. She said so, almost without thinking about it, but Kevin brushed the idea aside. "I can handle myself. I'm not like those kids. I know what I can do and I'm not afraid of it," he growled. Kevin paused, and when she lifted her gaze, their eyes locked. She noticed his hand flex at his side before his fingers curled into a fist. "But right now. You're in no shape to fight. If they're coming…they could actually take you. And I don't trust myself enough to stop them in time. So we're leaving."

He rolled his shoulders, and she suppressed an urge to fight with him over the decision. Leaving now almost seemed like a bad idea, but she didn't feel fit to come up with a plan that would keep them both safe. He turned away from her as if that settled the matter. "I'm going to search this ship," he said, stopping in front of the hangar that led to his frigate. Her mind instantly went to Motte, and as she glanced over her shoulder towards the cabin, Kevin noticed. "No, Gwen. He's not coming with us."

"Kevin. He was just protecting-" Her voice hitched and she trailed the sentence, uncertain. Motte did seem to regret his decision and she thought, with a little more time, she could have convinced him out of it. On the one hand, Gwen didn't want to leave him on the ship for Genix operatives to discover. On the other, she wasn't sure he would survive the trip with them, and she couldn't trust him after his betrayal. He was just a desperate father, and she couldn't fault him for trying to help his daughter. Yet…

"He's not coming," Kevin muttered, his eyes darkening.

"We can't just leave him here, Kevin."

"I'm not putting him on my ship," he shot back, a little too quickly not to seem bitter. Gwen crossed her arms over her chest as he sighed. Kevin closed his eyes and slapped his hand onto the bridge door. It slid open smoothly, as if the sensors were used to the violence. She stared at the pathway that connected this ship to his. She wouldn't mind leaving with him, but she had a problem with leaving Motte here in his condition.

"First. I don't want to leave him here like that." Kevin narrowed his eyes, but he didn't say anything to counter her. "I have to get a few things anyway. At the very least we should…try to make it easier on him."

"Because he would have done the same if you were in that much pain," Kevin bit out. "Gwen, this is a mistake."

"Even if it is," she said, matching his stubbornness, "I'm not leaving him here unless we do something to help him. When Genix finds out I got away and that he's partially responsible, what do you think will happen?" There was an accusing tone to her voice, but her brows rose to see a slow smirk spread across his face. "Kevin," she warned. The grin was gone in less than a second, but he didn't look apologetic.

"Fine. I'll put a damn band-aid on him or something."

"Kevin, I mean it." She breathed out a small sigh, finally looking down the corridor and towards her former room. "There's a first aid kit in the cabin area," she said, distracted. Gwen knew she needed to pick up a few of her things before they left, but she almost wished she didn't have to go back into that room. If Loch was there, lounging on her bed again…she suppressed a shudder and a flash of indignant anger. Loch was arrogant enough to attempt such a thing. Now that Kevin was here though, she didn't need to worry as much. She knew very well his idea of a "search" translated into something like "find and kill Loch" but they didn't have much time, and the more time she wasted by standing around, the more time that could have been spent looking for him.

It was particularly upsetting because no matter how hard she tried to ignore what happened, she couldn't get the alien out of her mind. She felt…tainted. It might have just been the Anodite part of her that was horrified by the prospect of going back in there, but as she touched her hand to her arm again, she could feel a small pulse of her mana surface. A flare of pain started up in her chest and she pushed the energy back to where it belonged. Loch had drained too much mana from her, and she didn't want to push herself too far. Not until she got some rest, when her body would be able to handle a lot more than just simple magicks. But even as she attempted to convince herself to go and get her things, she could still feel Loch's cold, wet grip surrounding her.

Her eyes narrowed as she lowered her hand away from her arm. She didn't have time to put up with personal anxieties. "I'll be back," she said, stepping forward. She might have actually gone on to her room too, if Kevin didn't grab her arm as she passed him.

"I can get your things," he said. She felt him squeeze her arm gently before his grip slackened – a silent exchange. Quite a bit of tension left her body then, and she swallowed thickly as he continued, stepping out in front of her and blocking her view of the hallway. "And I'll take care of Motte. There's something important you need to do. The ship's a bit large for a frigate, you might have trouble finding the room," he said, his eyes sparking with pride, "but take this." He reached into his pocket again and fished out what looked like a black disk. He handed it to her, releasing her arm as she accepted the item. "Flash it in front of any of the sensors and it will let you in. You're looking for something specific though. Ask the VI where 10A is. It'll give you details once you find it."

"The VI?" She asked. "You have a virtual intelligence on your ship?" She turned to stare at the bridge connecting their two vessels. What had Motte and Loch called it? A Specter? The jet black hull glinted in the vast expanse of space, as if boasting of its greatness. Apparently, Genix spared no expense for their technology. It was beginning to bother her that the company always seemed one step ahead of everyone else. Well. It had been bothering her for a while, at any rate.

"Ask for 10A. It'll know what you're talking about. I'll be on board soon."

"But what's-"

She paused, but he was already slipping away. With his back turned to her, he couldn't see her concern, watching him go reluctantly. She wasn't sure she liked the thought of him on board the ship, alone. Something told her that a fight between Kevin and Loch would not end quickly and it definitely would not end with either of them unscathed. She hesitated, still holding the black disk between her fingers. It was about the size of a Plumber's badge, but maybe only a few millimeters thick. She finally relented to what he wanted and started towards the bridge.

Up close, she could admire the slim design of the Specter from the open view of the bridge. The outside of the ship was speckled with occasional silver and white colored spots along the hull. She knew it was to create a slight camouflage effect in space, and the sleek design promised a level of speed that was unprecedented. It was strange, because Kevin's frigate was almost twice the size of hers, but the engines at the back purred when they should have roared.

A dark line bordered the ship's door at the end of the path, but as she drew closer the top strip flicked on in a luminescent blue color. Laser light from the line glinted down at the disk, zeroed in on the object and flashed before it disappeared. The doors slid open with a delicate hiss of air and she stepped inside.

What greeted her was an enormous lounge area. The place was well furnished for a ship, complete with things she never imagined belonged on a frigate at all. Under normal circumstances, she couldn't picture Kevin with a lush sofa in the middle of his ship, but a myriad of weaponry was spread across the soft cushions and the table that rose up out of the floor. Tools followed suit, and suddenly she felt herself relax a little more. These were things that screamed Kevin, especially the large pieces of artillery that she couldn't recognize. She started to smile – happy to see that most of his old habits and ways were still intact. Up at the front, the lounge narrowed out into a small corridor that made up the nose of the ship and the cabin area.

She walked up to the front, curious about the design. It was apparently built for only one person to pilot – there was only one chair in front of the console. A tinted screen in front of the chair would probably become a little easier to see through if someone was actually driving. She touched her hand to the black leather of the chair and laughed under her breath, bemused. Only the highest of quality for Kevin. The cabin area was pristine clean, the kind of clean that most people couldn't even bother with. After spending a few more seconds admiring the view, she remembered that she was supposed to be looking for something.

He never did detail what she was supposed to do exactly. But her eyes drifted up, across the roof of the ship where a thin blue strip lined the cabin area. The same strip carried on into the lounge, and beyond through a larger corridor. She might not have been an expert, but…

"I need to speak with the VI."

The strip burned a bright blue color before it dimmed again. A robotic voice filtered into the cabin, an ambiguous tone that rumbled through the room. "How can I be of service?" Clearly, it wasn't designed to mimic human emotions or voices. She was amused, but also too tired to think about the technology that drove it. She watched the strip across the ceiling glow briefly with more color, almost as if it were taking a breath of air.

"I need to find 10A," she said, keeping her voice clear so as to not cause confusion.

The answer was a resounding, "This way," followed by a flash of blue light. It took her only a second to realize that it was literally showing her where she needed to go by zipping along the line. It led her to the lounge area again. She noticed a small dining area this time, tucked away into the corner. It was nothing special, just a couple of chairs around a circular table. She ignored a few other details –such as what looked like a storage closet on the opposite side- and entered a large, dimly lit corridor. Thin lines of light embedded in the floor illuminated the hall and made it easier to navigate. The doors here were separated quite a bit, probably giving each room a luxurious amount of space to work with. She wondered what lay behind a few of them, and was impressed to discover that there was another floor below the main deck altogether.

Most Plumber ships, built for speed and small comforts, rarely had more than one level. Again, the VI repeated the "This way" statement that it made earlier, and led her down a metal stairwell to the second floor. After passing a few more rooms, the VI light stopped in front of one door, hovering there the way a polite gentleman might. "ID please," it said as she stood in front of it. She found herself lifting the black disk again and waiting for the VI to recognize it. When it was confirmed, the door slid open of its own accord.

She hesitated at what she saw.

It was a bedroom.

She walked in and the door closed softly of its own accord. Gwen almost dropped the disk in her hand, muttering under her breath about Kevin. It was nice of him to offer his room to her, but at the same time, lounging about and resting while he took care of things seemed…lazy on her part. Kevin wouldn't see it that way, but she did.

The room looked as if it hadn't been used in a while. But the place was decorated to Kevin's tastes. She set the disk down on a desk near the door, ignoring the locked chest that sat directly next to it. The bedroom had everything of course. A king sized mattress with half-hearted folded sheets and blankets. Kevin wouldn't have bothered with it much, and from the way the pillows were strewn over the top of the bed, she guessed he tossed them on there with about as much care as a person took when it came to swatting away an annoying mosquito. A dresser sat at the opposite end of the room. There was a storage closet and a few more weapon paraphernalia scattered about the place. She didn't touch the obviously personal objects: like a dark leather jacket that was slung over the edge of the dresser.

She took in the other details carefully, uncertain about whether or not she should indulge with a nap or look into the fridge next to the dresser.

Surprisingly, the carpet was navy blue in contrast to the dark color of his bed. She noticed a small alcove in the corner of the room and walked over to discover a shower area. Besides a few towels that hung from a metal banister on the wall, there was nothing new to look at. Though she thought the room could use a few lamps, the dim quality to the light also gave the place character. The same strip that made up the VI on the rest of the ship also owned a part of the wall near the door. The strip in here, however, was pitch black instead of blue. She assumed that meant the VI for this area was turned off, and likely wouldn't activate unless something happened.

Gwen wasn't going to complain. She preferred a little bit of privacy right now. Her eyes fell upon the door to the room again, her gaze softening as she took in a deep breath.

Well.

She shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Particularly when that horse came from Kevin.

**Ending Author Note: **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'll continue updating when my muse is found and life allows me to do so. As always, I appreciate well constructed comments. Thanks again for your support!


End file.
